Alternate Joker: A Persona 5 Novelization
by Olympic Titan
Summary: Raoul Collins is transferring to a new school in Japan from America due to a court order. He feels shackled by fate, but something in Tokyo will change his life forever and a new Trickster will rise.
1. Note about Novel

This is a work of fiction, any references to people, places, events (historical or otherwise) in your world are either coincidental or used only for the telling of this story and are not meant to be taken seriously.


	2. Prologue: ?

**Location: ?, Time: ?**

The alarms in the casino were going off like crazy. The patrons were looking and moving around nervously looking for the source of the alarm out of interest more than concern, they blindly believed that security would take care of it. Sure enough, three men dressed in black came down some stairs looking around. What everybody failed to notice was the lone figure jumping around on the lights high above the ground, in the darkness. The figure was moving from light to light with near superhuman athleticism until he stopped on one light and stood to look out over the Casino. The lone figure stood with a briefcase looking out with a smirk, that is until someone noticed him.

"Look up there!" he yelled.

"He's here, move in on the target." said one of the agents into a microphone as the three of them started moving towards the lone figure. The figure smiled and then leaped off back into the darkness, out of sight for a few moments, then jumped down onto a light, the briefcase missing.

A boyish voice came over through his coms, "Good. Now get running!" Another voice, a more mature male one, came through immediately afterward,

"This is our only chance!" Then a young girl's voice came through.

"Stay Calm! You can get away now!" All the while, the figure remained silent.

An older girl's voice came over the link, "We'll retrieve the briefcase on our end."

All of sudden, a mysterious transmission came over the link, "...suspects...not….confirmed…...hold...your...positions…"

Another girl's voice answered, "Hm…? What was that…?"

The boyish voice returned, "Don't worry about us. Just concentrate on getting away!" The figure then started jumping across the lights, heading for his destination.

As he went, the boyish voice continued, "But I have to say, showing yourself above that crowd earlier was an excellent move. Nice work as always, Joker." Joker didn't verbally acknowledge the voice but he agreed, it was a nice touch and continued to make his escape.

Then one of the girl's voice came over, "I bet Skull wouldn't pull it off that smoothly."

All of sudden, a different voice yelled out, "There he is!" Joker whipped around and saw that it was one of the agents in the Casino security. Just as he finished, two more came running out the door behind him.

The young girl's voice yelled out in concern, like she knew what was happening, "Just run! Get out of there!" Joker turned and started running across a series of overpasses, jumping from one to the other with ease.

As he was doing that, the boyish voice came over again, "Ok, the enemy's focus is on him. Looks like the rest of us can slip away." Joker didn't answer but kept jumping, eventually coming to a spot under a balcony, which he vaulted up and onto.

Another girl's voice came over just as he was doing that, "Everyone remembers where we're meeting up?" Joker kept running, heading for the door till it burst open and more guards came piling out, weapons drawn.

Joker smiled and then turned and leaped back onto the lights, much to the surprise of the agents and began to once again run on them, making his way to the exit. He stopped just in front of the enormous window at the front of the casino to look back at the guards and patrons down below him. "See ya!" he said, giving a mock salute before jumping out the window. The window broke and Joker flew out into the night sky.

"What a showoff." the young girl's voice as Joker twisted his body in the air, as he started to fall towards the ground several stories below one of the other girls came on over the link.

"You're so reckless. You know that?" Joker smiled with satisfaction as he twisted his body expertly to land on his feet and roll backward to relieve some of the G-forces his body was experiencing when it hit the ground.

When he finished his landing, Joker stood still to allow the glass to fall around him and minimize the chances that he would be cut by the glass before standing up. All of a sudden, bright lights turned on that blinded Joker for a second. He blocked the rays of light with his arm but it didn't do much. When his sight regained its focus, he noticed probably about a hundred armored police officers. All of sudden, several voices started yelling into the link at the same time as he scanned his enemies looking for an escape route.

"Enemies, here!? These readings… It can't be!"

"Joker!"

"What's wrong!?"

"What happened!?"

"An ambush!?"

"Hey Joker, can you handle this!?"

"Joker!"

"Capture him!" yelled the officer in command and the whole force started running towards Joker, and he started running. Joker ran along the side of the building as fast as he can. Joker looked up and saw a ladder not too high off the ground. Joker leaped into the air and grabbed the bottom rung of the ladder and began to climb up in an attempt to escape. Joker looked down to see the cops running and failing to get to him and he began laughing as he continued to climb. As he reached the top, he looked up and saw...guns, a lot of guns pointed at his face. Joker wasn't expecting this but it was too late to act as one officer raised his rifle and hit Joker, knocking him off the ladder and onto the pile of cops below.

Joker hit the ground with a thud and almost immediately, cops were all over him, pinning every part of his body to the ground. Joker struggled to get out of the locks, but there were too many of them to fight off, and he couldn't just use his Persona, it wasn't possible.

All of sudden, the officer made a passageway letting a guy in a suit walk up to him, he was obviously the guy in charge.

"Didn't expect to find some kid," he said. He continued, "You have your teammate to thank for this." he reached down, grabbed Joker by the hair and lifted his head up before continuing, "You were sold out." Joker's eyes widened before the officer let his head fall back down. The chief officer stood back up and walked away before Joker felt a sharp pain in his shoulder.

"Suspect confirmed. Cuff him!" and then the cold steel of handcuff wrapped around Joker's arm. What followed next were mug shots after they stripped him of his gear and put on his school uniform, and then the interrogation began.

* * *

Cold water splashed all over Joker, waking him up. His head was all floaty and everything hurt a lot, he didn't remember exactly what was going on, all he remembered was getting the shit beat out of him and then several needles, then nothing; hell, he didn't even know how long he has been there. His hair was dripping wet, his vision seriously blurry, and his senses completely out of whack and everything hurt. What he could see is that there were several angry cops standing in front of him.

"No dozing off." said one of the cops. Joker started to move again and found that he was still handcuffed to the chair. "You still don't get it, do you?" said the lead interrogator, "Give it up!" As he said, the officer brought his leg up and kicked Joker square in the gut, knocking him and the chair over. Joker lay on the ground coughing, trying to get air back in his lungs but the officer wasn't done yet, "Come on, cooperate. Or what, you want another shot?"

Joker looked up at the officer as he planted his foot on Joker's head and began to push down, his eyes filled with rage. Joker's eyes then moved to look at the camera which was at the back of the room. The officer noticed Joker's change in focus and turned to look back at the camera, "Huh? What about the camera? Are you thinking it can be used as video evidence?" and as he said that, he knelt down and picked Joker up by the hair.

"Of course not," said Joker weakly, "I know that you guys aren't that stupid."

"So you're not dumb. Which is good, 'cause we get to take as much time as we NEED!" the officer responded slamming Joker's head back into the floor and kicking him in the gut again. Joker began coughing harder as this kick was harder than the last.

The officer walked over to another one and grabbed a clipboard that was being held out to him and began reading the crimes that Joker supposedly committed.

"Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons… Manslaughter too, yeah? Talk about the works. To think that all those crimes were led by a punk like this… And you seemed to be enjoying every second of it… Huh?"

'I was.. Enjoying it…? No, there's something else going on here, but I can't remember...Everything's hazy…' thought Joker. The lead officer shook his head before continuing.

"...You should know your place." The lead officer then gave a move of his head and one of the other cops in the room walked over and uncuffed Joker before two of them forced Joker off his side into a sitting position.

Joker sat up and began rubbing his wrists, which were purple, almost black from swelling due to the handcuffs being on him for hours.

"Sign here." said the lead officer, holding out a clipboard towards him, "It's a confession under your name." Joker looked at it for a second before swatting it away in an act of defiance.

"I see…" said the officer, "I need your hand to sign this, but…" He brought his leg down on a Joker's leg just above the knee cap and a sharp pain shot through Joker.

"I don't care if you end up losing a leg." The officer lifted his leg off of Joker's before offering him the clipboard again. Joker took it and then the officer took out a pen to offer it to Joker. As Joker went for it, the officer got in his face for one more threat.

"Don't expect to walk out of here in one piece. We're going to make you understand that one must take full responsibility for their actions. Your damn Miranda Rights aren't going to help you here."

Joker grabbed the pen and the officer got up to watch Joker sign. Joker looked at the confession but didn't bother to read it, he was too screwed up at the moment. At the bottom of the paper was an x and a line, space for Joker to sign. Not wasting any time, he quickly signed his name, 'Raoul Collins...that's my name...' and handed it back to the officer.

An untold amount of time had passed before Raoul heard an argument between two men and one woman outside. Raoul couldn't tell what they were arguing about, the drugs were still fresh in his system. Then, a woman walked into the room and sat across the table from Raoul.

"...I didn't expect it'd be you. You'll be answering my questions this time." The woman looked over and saw several syringes lying on the ground.

"Those bastards… Can you hear me? It seems you've been through a lot. Almost anything can happen here….and I can't stop them. That's why I need you to answer me honestly. I don't have much time either." Raoul sat there, not saying a word.

The woman continued, "What was your objective? Why did you cause such a major incident? I didn't think it was a prank from the get-go, but I couldn't assemble a case for the prosecution. It's because I couldn't figure out the method behind it."

Raoul looked up at her and said weakly, "Of course you couldn't...there was no way you could."

"This isn't an issue of whether or not it can be used in court. I need to know. This is my case, after all." The woman replied, "It seems you're still coherent. When and where did you find out about that world? How is it even possible to steal another's heart? Now, tell me your account of everything….. Start from the very beginning."

Raoul's head began to hurt as he tried to recall everything that had lead up to this point. Then, out of nowhere, a transparent blue butterfly came into existence and started flying in front of him. It kept flying and he watched it go, then a female voice came from it

"...You are held captive. A prisoner of fate to a future that has been sealed in advance. This is truly an unjust game...Your chances of winning are almost none. But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you… I beg you. Please overcome this game… and save the world… The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds-the truth that you and your friends grasped. It all began that day….when the game was started half a year ago… For the sake of your world's future… as well as your own… you must remember..."


	3. Chapter 1: Small Beginnings

Raoul snapped awake, the bump that the subway hit must have woken him up. He reached up to rub the sleep out of his eyes. It was the afternoon of Saturday, April 9th. This was the first time that he had ridden the Tokyo subways, hell it was his first time in Japan in over five years, and it was so….quiet. The announcement thanking people for taking this line was playing and the announcement saying which station was coming up play afterward. "Next stop is Shibuya." was playing over the speakers and Raoul started to gather his things because Shibuya was his stop. His Japanese was good due to him being Japanese-American.

Raoul looked down and started to remember his reason for coming to Shibuya. There was a situation and he got involved, because of that, the man got hurt and called the cops on him, he was arrested and convicted, even though he didn't do anything. Since he held both Japanese and American citizenship, he could be tried in Japan. Everything went against him in the trial and now everyone just looks at him like a criminal negating who he really is in a matter of minutes, but that was the furthest from the truth.

Raoul Collins stands at around 5'10, weighs 160 lbs (72.6 kg) with black hair of average length and black eyes. He was very well built and had an athletic frame with broad shoulders. Overall, he was a kind person who liked to keep to himself, never wasting what he said and told it like it is, people have said that nothing really seems to stress him out and that he was always calm, which he always appreciated it. He was also a man of meticulous nature, but still retained a qualitative amount of flexibility to adapt when things went wrong. He also had an eloquent way of speaking, or so he was told, probably brought about by a phase in which he was extremely interested in oratory.

Raoul kept thinking of how his life went from being an honor student in the States to be a criminal on probation in Japan. His family had already left Japan for the States and left him here to essentially fend for himself in a new city where he knew no one. Raoul hated self-pitying but he couldn't help it, not with this situation looming over his head. Thankfully, a conversation on the other side of the subway car sparked his interest and took his mind off of everything.

"What? Are you for real? A mental shutdown?" Raoul looked up and saw that it was two younger girls in school uniforms who were carrying on the conversation.

"It's the truth!" said the girl on the left.

"To a person though? That's gotta be a joke. You really love all that occult stuff, don't you?" responded the girl on the right, obviously not buying what her friend was saying.

Once the train got to Shibuya, Raoul disembarked and began following the map on his new phone towards Shibuya crossing, where the subway hub was. When he walked in, he looked up and saw how crowded it was, 'It's like Times Square' he thought. And it kinda was, several hundred people, maybe even a thousand were milling around Shibuya crossing, going about their daily routine.

All of a sudden, there was a noise coming from his phone. Raoul looked down to see a weird app was booting up on his screen. It looked like a red eye breaking through something with a star for its iris. The app then grew to a considerable size on his screen. Raoul was confused, he never installed anything like this. So he started tapping it but nothing happened until a person he heard behind him stop talking completely. Raoul turned to see that the man was almost suspended in space, he then turned to see that the same thing was happening to everyone.

Raoul started looking around, very confused; this bustling part of the Tokyo metroplex is now dead silent, no..more like frozen in time. Then, at the center of the crossing was a something even weirder, a pillar of blue fire was burning. It had a ghostly appearance but it seemed to not be random, it was forming something like it had a mind of its own, it formed a humanoid figure with wings and a strong wind started blowing.

By all the logic in the world, Raoul should be panicking, but for some reason, he felt extremely calm, like he knew instinctively that whatever it was, it wasn't going to hurt him. Then, red eyes and a smile that looked like to made of red fire appeared on the humanoid figure. Then the strangest thing of all happened, Raoul saw himself looking back at him with a smile and yellow eyes. Then, everything was back to normal, like nothing ever happened. Raoul looked around for any reaction if anybody saw what he just saw, but it didn't look like it.

"That was weird." he said quietly to himself as he moved the weird app to his trash bin and deleted it. He then continued onto his destination.

* * *

The subway pulled into Yongen-Jaya station and Raoul was one of the first people off the train. He moved close to the wall so that he could check to see if he was in the right place. Sure enough, he was; Raoul then proceeds to make his way out of the subway which a bit easier said than done, he never knew that Tokyo could get this crowded, even out here.

He continued to follow the directions on his phone until he arrived at what was obviously the backstreets. 'Starting today, Sojiro Sakura will be taking care of me. It says that his house is in the backstreets and I'm here so, it ought to be around here somewhere...' Raoul noticed a police officer standing at the corner, he looked unhappy, Raoul knew that he was unpopular with the law right now but what choice did he have? He sighed and walked up to the officer.

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"Yes?" said the officer, looking at him with a glare, 'yikes, he doesn't seem happy.' thought Raoul who then continued before it got awkward.

"Umm, I'm trying to look for this address." he lifted his phone, showing the officer.

"Hmm…. Okay then. It's in an alley a bit further back. Take a right after that apartment with the stairs." answered the officer.

"Thank you" said Raoul before walking off quickly. He followed the directions until he came to a house that had a name that reads: Sakura. 'I guess this it.' thought Raoul as he pushed the doorbell, but nothing happened.

"Maybe he's out?" said Raoul quietly.

"Looks like no one's home…" said a mysterious voice. Raoul turned around to see a parcel delivery man standing with a package in his hand. "Oh yeah, Sakura-san's usually at his cafe around this time. Well, Leblanc's in the back alley so I should make my other deliveries first..." Raoul didn't even bother listening to the rest of what the delivery man was saying because he was already looking for Leblanc. Raoul headed back and the way he came and decided that he would check each store in the back alleys for Leblanc.

"Looking for something, young man?" asked a mysterious voice. Raoul turned around to see an old man sitting in a chair in front of his shop. He could see that it was a second-hand shop from the fact that there were some obvious antiques behind the gentleman and the fact that the sign on the store said that it was a second-hand shop.

"Yes, sir." replied Raoul walking up to him before continuing, "I'm looking for a cafe called Leblanc."

"Leblanc? It's just down this alley.." he said pointing to an alleyway behind Raoul, "On your left."

"Thank you," said Raoul giving a quick bow, he had studied Japanese customs when he was learning the language and before coming to visit his elderly grandparents who lived in Nagasaki. They couldn't take him in because they were too old so they sent him to an acquaintance of their friend.

Pretty soon, he arrived at the cafe, it was small, most likely a family business. It did, however, have a certain charm to it. 'This looks like it.' thought Raoul as he grabbed and turned the doorknob.

When he walked in, he saw that today must've been a quiet day for the cafe, there were only two customers in one of the booths. Both were elderly and were quietly sipping coffee while a third, middle-aged man was reading the newspaper. The TV was on and at a pretty low volume, Raoul could see that it was relaying a story about a traffic accident, looks like a bus swerved into the wrong lane with passengers still on board.

"How frightening." said the gentleman

"What could be going on? Didn't something like this happen just the other day?" replied the lady.

"Vertical….the name of the seashell that's used for farming pearls.." said the third man quietly, but Raoul could pick it up.

"Oysters," he said.

"Oh, thank you." said the man writing down the answer before looking up to see who said it. "Oh right," he said, his eyes rising up a bit as he folded his newspaper, "They did say that it was today."

"We'll be going now, the payment's on the table." said the gentleman standing up, his wife following suit.

"Thanks for coming." said the third man, obviously now identified as the manager of the place. The elderly couple started to move out, Raoul moved out of the way to let them through. However, just before leaving, the gentleman turns around once again.

"I like this place, it's in the back alley so there are no worries about a car crashing through here."

"A what now?" asked the Manager, confused by the sudden topic.

"You didn't hear? There's been a string of strange rampage accidents. I just hope that none happen here." The manager simply shrugged at the notion.

"It's none of my concern," he said half-heartedly.

"Haha, we'll see you next time." replied the gentleman before the two of them walked out of the cafe. Once they were gone, the manager sighed.

"Four hours just for a single cup of joe." Raoul smiled softly, he probably would've done the same given the chance.

"So…" said the manager walking up to Raoul, "you're Raoul Collins?"

"Yes sir." said Raoul turning towards him, "Is Mr. Sakura here?"

"..Yeah" the manager replied, "I'm Sojiro Sakura, and you'll be in my custody for the next year." Sojiro was not that much taller than Raoul, though you wouldn't know from his slight slouch. He had jet black hair and a beard with half-rimless glasses. Sojiro had rugged facial features, like those of a man that the world has born down on, with clear age lines crisscrossing his face. "I was wondering what sort of rowdy kid would show up here, but you're the one huh?"

"Yes sir." replied Raoul with a small nod.

"Have you been told- a customer of mine knows your grandparents and..well not that it matters to me anyways." continued Sojiro before turning around, "Follow me." Raoul quietly nodded and followed the man upstairs into the attic.

When they got to top, Raoul was only slightly taken aback by how dirty the place was.

"This is your room." said Sojiro without batting an eye. "I'll at least give you sheets for your bed." Sojiro turned to look at a quiet Raoul looking about the place, "You look like you want to say something."

"Honestly Mr. Sakura, at this point, I'm just glad to have a roof over my head."

"Well, it's up to you to clean it up." he responded scratching his head.

"Understood." said Raoul, placing his bag on a dusty table behind him and rubbed his shoulder, he's been carrying that thing all day.

"I'll be leaving after I lock up each day. You'll be alone at night but don't do anything stupid. I'll throw you out if you cause any trouble." Raoul was a little shocked, more by the fact that Sojiro said it with the same placid look that he had when he told him that this cluttered attic was his room. But he didn't show it, he simply nodded again.

"Now then... I got the gist of your situation, you decided to defend a woman who was being harassed but the man got hurt and sued you right?" asked Sojiro

"Yes sir," responded Raoul.

"That's what you get for sticking your nose into adult matters. You did injure him yeah?"

"Unintentionally, but I guess that the court didn't really care."

"And now, you've got a criminal that got you expelled from high school in the States and the Japanese government said you can't leave this country until you've finished your probation and you have to transfer here. To which your family agreed to it all."

"In other words, they got rid of me for being a pain in the ass." Raoul looked down slightly when he said that.

"Yeah.." Sojiro turned slightly more serious when he resumed his little talk, "try not to say anything unnecessary here. I am in the restaurant business after all. Behave yourself over the next year, and your probation will be lifted so you can go home; any problems, and you'll go straight to juvie."

"Understood," said Raoul.

"Tomorrow we'll be going to Shujin Academy," said Sojiro turning to leave.

"Shujin?" asked Raoul, turning his body to follow Sojiro.

"Shujin Academy is the school you'll be attending while you're here. We'll introduce ourselves to the staff properly there. There's rarely a place that'll accept someone like you, you know?" He sighed, "What a waste of my Sunday. Your belongings arrived earlier, I left them over there." he said gesturing towards a couple of boxes in the center of the room before walking down the stairs back to the cafe.

After he was gone, Raoul decided that it was time to start cleaning now, if he wanted this place to be livable for the next year. He went downstairs and found the janitorial closet and took the mop, a brush, paper towels and filled a bucket with water. Once back upstairs, he got to work

A half hour later, he finished mopping the up the floor and began removing the dust from all the furniture. Once that was done, he placed his boxes inside one of the shelves towards the stairs and began with the books, he placed them all neatly inside the shelf in order after dusting off each one, including the ones on the desk, their subject matter varied widely; from psychology to computer to business to cookbooks, everything seemed to point at a variety of interest though Raoul couldn't understand why Sojiro needed to read books on building computers, regardless it wasn't his place to stick his nose into. This whole process lasted until the evening.

Eventually, Sojiro walked upstairs and was taken aback at how clean the place had become.

"What the? I thought you were just making noise up here but I'd never have guessed that you were cleaning." He looked around at the transformation that the place underwent. "You know..this place doesn't look half bad, though I think it's natural that you want to keep your room clean." He then turns back towards Raoul before continuing, "Why don't you turn in for the night? You don't have anything better to do."

"Actually.." said Raoul as he walked past Sojiro to his bag, removing his shirt to reveal an undershirt tank top, "I was planning on training and doing some exercise."

"Hmm, well don't break anything, I'm about to lock up and head out of here." He turned around the head out but before he went down he said one last thing, "Oh, and I won't be taking care of you if you get sick from staying up late, you got that?"

"Yes sir." responded Raoul. Sojiro nodded and left Raoul to do his training.

Raoul's training was an intense regimen. For the last six years, he's been doing intense calisthenics every day. Now, he does three sets of 100 pushups, 100 sit ups, and 100 squats with only minimal rest between sets. Then he does 50 handstand push ups, 50 pull ups on the wooden beam above him, 50 dips on a chair, 50 single leg squats on each leg, 50 side plank hip raises, and 50 dragon flags, all in five sets of ten. Finally, he went through his Shadow Boxing regiments that he's honed over the years again and finishes everything off by reading for ten minutes while doing a perfect wall sit. The whole process took about two hours to go through and consistent training left him with a very respectable physique.

Afterward, Raoul washed himself using the downstairs sink and then climbed into bed and began thinking about everything the led up to this moment. The incident, the trial, the criminal record, all of it.

* * *

It was probably a month ago when it happened. Raoul had gone out to jog around town. Why? He couldn't sleep, something was really bothering him so he went out to blow off some energy so hopefully, he could go to sleep when he got back. Towards the end, as he was turning a corner about a couple of blocks from his grandmother's home, he stopped. There were a man and woman in the distance and it looked like they were arguing. Raoul at first decided to ignore it but then realized that the man was forcing himself on the woman, and he couldn't stand for that.

Removing his earbuds, Raoul could hear more of the conversation and discovered that the man was intoxicated and hurting the woman on top of everything. That's what sealed his fate, he had to stop it.

"Tch...what a waste." said the drunk man, "You thinc zhat yjou are worth the trouble you're ausing me eh?"

"I'll-I'll call the police!" said the woman.

"Ehh? Za police are my bshitches, they won't ttake you seriously." responded the drunk man.

"No! Please!" the woman nearly shrieked.

All of a sudden, the man stopped for no reason and then Raoul could hear the sirens in the distance.

"Someone called the cops huh? Get in the car!" he said trying to shove the woman into the vehicle. "Incompetent fools like you just need to keep your mouth shut and follow where I steer this country."

"Excuse me sir, but I believe that the lady has made her point. You should go now." said Raoul placing a firm hand the gentlemen's shoulder. It was only then that the man noticed Raoul's presence.

"What're you looking at huh? Get outta my face! This ain't a show kid! Get lost!" He then got close to Raoul's face. "You don't want to mess with me kid, I got connections. Mess with me and you're done." He then turns back around to the woman, "See? This is happening because you're too damn slow. Get in the car!"

"Look, she obviously isn't interested, I suggest you leave before you do something you'll end up regretting sir." said Raoul, placing his hand back on the man's shoulder, but with a stronger grip and his tone of voice turning darker.

"Fuck off!" yelled the man as he turned around and threw a right haymaker at Raoul. Even in the dark, Raoul could feel the blowing coming towards him and quickly jumped back to avoid the blow. But due to either his drunkenness or his inexperience, the man lost his balance and fell onto the guard rail. For a few seconds, he lay there then got back up to his feet, holding his face, a small stream of blood leaking from the face. "You damn brat! I'll sue."

* * *

Raoul grit his teeth as he thought back to that fateful night and began to feel his eyelids fall over his eyes. He didn't necessarily regret it but he couldn't regret it sometimes. Just as he closed them, his phone went off with a familiar tone. He pulled it out and noticed a familiar app on his screen. 'It's that eye app that ended up on my phone. Weird, I thought I deleted that.' With a swift movement of his thumb, he dragged the app back into the recycling bin. He then closed his eyes and fell asleep.

* * *

Raoul's eyes snapped awake to a weird site before him, he was in a hard bed inside a room with deep blues walls. The soft rattling of chains echoed around him. He sat up and noticed that when he went to stretch, he had chains around his arms and that he was in a prison jumpsuit.

"Is this a dream?" he thought aloud softly, but one quick look around him told a different story. "No, this is too detailed to be a dream, each one that I remember is blurry. But this, this is spot on." He swung his legs off the bed and sat there a moment, trying to piece together what is going on. Mainly, where is he?

Raoul's train of thought was disturbed by the sounds of heels on the floor. Looking at where the door to the cell, he could see a young girl walking across his line of sight and stop and turn in front of him. She was about three feet tall, blond, with an eyepatch, and wearing a warden's uniform. The next part, Raoul found a little mind-bending, the girl stepped to the side and another one appeared, a twin it seems. They each had different hairstyles, the one on the right had twin buns and the one on the left had a single ponytail stretching down the length of her back. They had opposing eyepatches the one on the right had it on her right eye and the one on the left had a patch over her left eye. Their expressions also varied, the one on the right hand had a not so nice smile on her face while the one on the left had a placid look.

Raoul stepped forwards the confront them but noticed a weight holding him back. Looking down, he could see that his left leg was also manacled and attached to an iron ball at the center of his cell. When he finally managed to stretch the chain to its maximum, allowing him to get to the door, the twins parted again to reveal another occupant at the center of the room. Raoul was shocked at who it was. It was a short hunchbacked male in a black tuxedo suit with white gloves sitting behind a desk. He was bald on the top of his head, but Raoul could see silver hair growing on the lower half. He had elven-like ears, an unreasonably long nose, eyes that seemed to bulge out of his head, and a somewhat creepy smile. The desk had a small microphone, a lamp, a quill pen, and a huge stack of papers.

"Trickster, welcome to my Velvet Room." the man spoke without losing his smile, almost like a ventriloquist in a deep bass voice.

'Velvet Room?' thought Raoul, 'Well, this should be interesting.'

"So, you've come to, Inmate." said the twin on the right

"The you, in reality, is currently fast asleep. You are only experiencing this as a dream" said the one on the left.

"Feels a little more reality than dream." murmured Raoul.

"You're in the presence of our master. Stand up straight!" said the one on the right with such a voice that Raoul almost straighten his back like a recruit being approached by his drill sergeant.

"Welcome. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. This place exists dreams and reality, mind and matter." said the man.

"Like a sort of Limbo?" asked Raoul.

"Precisely. This room is only accessible to those who are bound by a contract. I..am Igor. I am the master of this Velvet Room, remember it well."

"Why am I here?" asked Raoul.

"I summoned you here to speak on important matters. It..involves your life as well."

"Well then, let's get started." said Raoul, outwardly he appeared calm, but he was a mixture of confused and frightened in reality.

"Still…" said Igor looking around the prison, "this is a surprise. The state of the Velvet Room reflects that of your own heart. I think a prison aptly reflects that."

"What do you know about me?"

"Everything I need to." Igor let out a slight chuckle before continuing, "You truly are a "prisoner" of fate. In the near future, there is no mistake that ruin is what awaits."

"What're you talking? What do you mean ruin?" asked Raoul, the layer of calmness being stripped away faster than before.

"Ha ha ha, worry not. There is a way to oppose such a fate." responded Igor, to which Raoul felt a slight wave of relief wash over him.

"How?" he asked, his calm demeanor returning.

"You must be "rehabilitated." Rehabilitated towards freedom. That..is your only means of survival. So, do you have the resolve to challenge the distortion in the world."

Raoul froze, a key had just been entered into his heart, a lock has been broken. A lock that, to him, held him back from who he was.

He smiled, "Do you even need to ask?"

"Very well." responded Igor, Raoul could swear that he saw Igor's smile grow a bit, "Allow me to observe the path to your rehabilitation."

As soon as he finished, the girls clicked their heels and turned towards Raoul's cell.

"Ah, please pardon me for not introducing the others. To your right is Caroline, and to your left is Justine." Raoul committed their names and faces to memory. "They serve as the wardens here."

"Hmph, try and struggle as hard as you like." said Caroline.

"The duty of warden is to protect inmates. We are also your collaborators." said Justine. "That is...if you remain obedient."

"I shall explain the roles of these two on another occasion," said Igor as the twins turned back around to face their master. "Now then, the night seems to be waning… It is almost time. Take your time to slowly come to understand this place. We will surely meet again, eventually.."

All of sudden an alarm bell began ringing, Raoul looked around but found nothing.

"Time's up. Hurry up and go back to sleep." said Caroline.

"Wait!" yelled Raoul reaching for the bars but then everything turned to black.


	4. Chapter 2: First Day

When Raoul woke up the next morning, he noticed that a uniform had been placed on his couch. It was a red buttoned black blazer with what Raoul could only assume was the school emblem on the pocket. A white turtleneck with a black chevron as a detail on the collar. The pants had a red plaid pattern across them. Finally, there was a black pair of glasses on top of a bag next to the uniform.

Raoul once again washed in the sink and looked at himself in the mirror.

'That was a weird experience. Ruin? Rehabilitation? What does he mean? Well, I guess that can wait, I've got other things to do today.'

"Oh, you're already awake?" said a now familiar voice. Raoul turned his head to see Sojiro walk into the cafe in a white suit and hat with a pink button-up shirt.

"Yeah, just got up." said Raoul drying his face with a small towel.

"Well, get dressed and we'll go properly introduce ourselves to the Shujin staff about your transfer." responded Sojiro. Raoul nodded and went upstairs to change. Within a few minutes, he had finished dressing and looked into the mirror to see what he looked like.

'Whoops, missing something.' Raoul reached down and grabbed the pair of glasses. Once put on, he looked back in the mirror. 'Just like Clark Kent.' Once he got downstairs, he saw Sojiro sitting at the counter with a small map.

"The school you're attending is in the Aoyama district. It'll cost you a bit to ride the train there, and route transfers are a pain. I'll drive you there just for today, so memorize as much as you can of the map, let's go." Sojiro handed Raoul the map. As he walked away, Raoul could hear him mutter something along the lines that women were the only ones really allowed in his front seat. He silently rolled his eyes and followed out his guardian out the door of Leblanc.

About an hour later, they had parked a couple of blocks from the school and walked the rest of the way. They were now standing in front of the school and Sojiro turned to look at Raoul.

"Do me a favor and behave yourself, all right? Don't get me wrong, I don't really care what happens to you. Just don't make any trouble for me." Raoul simply nodded, "Don't really talk much do you?"

Raoul smiled and shrugged, "Just trying to keep a low profile is all." Sojiro didn't look impressed but said nothing as the two entered the school and headed for the principal's office. Once there it was all business with the principal and Sojiro, Raoul stood quietly behind him but there was another person who didn't actively engage with the others. She was a young lady, probably mid to late twenties, with brown unkempt hair and tired brown eyes. She was of medium stature, shorter than Raoul and had a slender build, and from what he could tell, she looks like she hasn't slept in a couple of days.

As soon as Sojiro had finished signing the last of the paperwork, the principal finally set his sights on Raoul. The Principal of Shujin was a short, obese, bald man with a khaki suit, white shirt, and a red bowtie.

"Just to reiterate Mr. Collins." said the Principal, "If you cause any problems, you will be immediately expelled from this institution. To be completely honest, I hesitated on accepting someone like you, but there were some circumstances on our side. You might have done a variety of things in hiding in the USA, but you will behave yourself here. If you are thrown out of here, there will be no place for you to go. Please keep that in mind."

"Yes sir." responded Raoul.

"Hmph, you seem to have at least some manners." said the Principal before turning to the young woman at his side, "This is the teacher who is in charge of your class."

"My name is Sadayo Kawakami." said the young lady.

"A pleasure." responded Raoul politely bowing.

Ms. Kawakami simply nodded and held out a small card, "This is your student ID" Raoul quietly reached out a grabbed it. "Be sure to read the school rules. Any violations will send you straight to the guidance office, and if by any chance you cause a problem, I won't be able to protect you at all." She then turned to look at the Principal, "That IS you promise, yes, Principal Kobayakawa?"

"He is responsible for ALL of his actions." responded the Principal with a nod.

Before Raoul could give his reply, Kawakami sighed, "But really though, why me? There should've been better candidates."

'That does not inspire confidence in me.' thought Raoul.

"It was a sudden transfer," said the Principal solemnly, "and your class was the only one that had an opening."

"If you're done explaining things, mind if we get going?" asked Sojiro with a sense of urgency, "I got a store to get back to." The principal nodded.

"Mr. Sakura, please keep a close eye on him. Don't let him cause any trouble outside.." Sojiro sighed.

"Well, I'll be sure to have a serious talk about the situation he's in. Though I think he understands perfectly his situation."

"Please do it regardless." responded the Principal.

"Come to the faculty office when you arrive at the school tomorrow. I'll show you to your classroom." said Kawakami to Raoul.

"Yes ma'am." responded Raoul. The two guests then left the office and started to walk down the hallway towards the exit. But before they got the door Sojiro sighed before stopping.

"They're treating you like some kinda nuisance...I guess that's what it means to have a criminal record." Raoul said nothing, Sojiro then turned to face him, "Turns out your past follows you wherever you go."

Raoul shrugged, "I guess."

"Hmm. By the way…" continued Sojiro, "If you get expelled now, I won't hesitate to kick you out. Got it?"

Raoul nodded, "Understood." Sojiro's face then relaxed somewhat.

"School never changes huh?"

"You went here?" asked Raoul. Sojiro however, said nothing but just continued outside, Raoul hurried to keep up with him.

He simply said, "We're going home."

Kawakami was glad that her new student left already. She was still wrapping her mind around the fact that a student with a criminal record is now in her class. She thought he was a strange one though, Raoul Collins, when you look at him, he doesn't immediately strike you as one would be a troublemaker; though she did notice his knuckles were callused and he seemed to be in too good a shape for an average student so perhaps he fought a lot. Whatever, she didn't really care.

"What a troublesome situation." a voice snapped her out of thinking. Kawakami looked up to see the familiar, muscular frame of Suguru Kamoshida walking down the hall, dressed in his normal workout clothes, his normal stopwatches dangling from his neck.

"I can't believe they pushed someone with a record on me." sighed Kawakami, "A male teacher would be better suited for this.."

"Why in the world was someone like that admitted here?" sighed Kamoshida.

"Who knows?" responded Kawakami, "It was the principal's decision. But I was told that it's for the school's reputation."

Kamoshida shook his head, "I would've thought that my volleyball team has contributed more than enough to cover that."

"That's certainly true." nodded Kawakami.

"Be careful, OK?" said Kamoshida flashing a smile, "Then again, if anything were to happen, I'd kick out a student like that right away."

"I keep wishing that he'd just end up not coming to school." sighed Kawakami. "Still, that isn't something I should be saying as a teacher…"

"Well, I should be returning to practice." said Kamoshida.

"Oh, right. The tournament's coming up, isn't it?" said Kawakami, perking up.

"Heh heh, having such high expectations place on you by others is quite a problem in itself. We'll have to work hard to make up for the track team too." responded Kamoshida with a giant grin on his face.

"Yes… that's true." said Kawakami, her usual demeanor returning. Kamoshida patted her shoulder, then turned and set off down the hall. "Why'd it have to be my class?" she grumbled when Kamoshida was out of hearing range. She then decided to head back to the faculty room to pick up some papers that need grading.

On the freeway back to Leblanc, the freeway was clogged like nothing Raoul had ever seen, it was probably as bad as, if not worse than, Washington DC's traffic.

"Traffic's not moving at all…" grumbled Sojiro. "Remember, you're taking the train starting tomorrow." he continued, turning to Raoul.

"I know, I'll try to familiarize myself with the map tonight." responded the boy.

"Good. So how was it? The school, I mean. Think you can manage?" asked the man.

Raoul sighed, "It'll be a lot different than school in the States but I think that I can get used to it."

"Right...Now listen up. Don't even think of doing anything stupid." Raoul didn't respond, "Still, you were expelled once already. To think you'd re-enroll at a different one, in another country no less. It's not like anyone will be sympathetic with you."

"Believe me, I've already prepared myself for all the rumors that will be spreading." said Raoul.

"Mmm. Regardless, if that's what it was like at school, people might say stuff about me in the future too...What a troublesome kid I've taken in." sighed Sojiro

"By the way, you didn't answer me before. Why'd you take me in." asked Raoul to which Sojiro gave him a sidelong glance before responding.

"I was asked to do it, and I just..happened to agree to it. Plus, I've already been paid for my troubles, after all." Sojiro then turned on the radio, trying to get away from their current subject.

"Again, a subway has derailed at Shibuya Station, greatly affecting the timetable all across the-" the newscaster continued but now neither men were paying attention.

"Another accident?" sighed Sojiro. "So that's why it's so crowded. There's been a lot of those lately."

* * *

Aki Tokushima was sitting in the front car on the lower line heading to Shibuya Station. She sighed as she closed the book that she was reading and placed in her bag. She then glanced at her watch, about forty-five minutes till the meetup. Aki then reclined against the window and closed her eyes, she was tired from a long day's work.

All of a sudden the train lurched forwards and began accelerating at an incredibly high rate, nearly knocking her off the bench in the process.

"Ahh!" she heard other people shriek.

"Hey! What's going on!?" yelled a man as he began to bang on the door to the train operator. Despite all that yelling, no noise came from it. Aki ran up to the door and looked in to see small trail blood spilling out of the operator's mouth. She slowly backed away in shock. The train was getting faster by the second, Aki started feeling the effects of high speed as she continued to back away. As the train began turning, it began rocking until it suddenly tilted and threw everyone to the side. Despite this, the train did not stop, it, in fact, getting faster. The next second, there was a jerking motion as the train hit something, most likely the next station, throwing Aki into the wall in front of her and the world went black.

* * *

Sae Niijima and her superior, the director of the Special Investigations Unit, sat together in his office watching the news of the most recent accident unfold. So far, there have been thirty people confirmed dead and at least another hundred or so injured in the accident. Sae, a tall young woman in her late twenties was dressed in her normal business suit, which consisted of a dark gray blazer, black pants and a black turtleneck, with a section sign necklace. She has long gray hair systematically parted to one side and brown eyes. The director was a balding elder gentleman in his fifties with a vertically elongated face, grey eyes, and glasses. He wore an expensive navy blue suit and an expensive tie that matched.

"It's less of an operation accident and more of a crime of the company and the government." remarked the Director. "Site inspectors apparently reported all of this six months ago-the deterioration of the tracks and the ATC that is. Seems the railway company and the Ministry of Transport both turned a blind eye to the truth." He then turned his head to look at Sae, "There's no way they can hide. This will go all the way to the top." The news anchor continued with the story, relaying all the delays and reschedules that will take place due to the accident. The two occupants of the office both sat quietly listening for a moment until the Director broke the silence again, "Everything's linked-that's what you're thinking, correct?" Sae however, remained quiet. The Director smiled, "Ah well. On a different note, are you free? You and I haven't gone for a drink in a while." Sae turned, smiled, and finally spoke.

"Thank you, sir, but I have another meeting to attend. I must be going." Sae bowed and then walked out of the office. The Director then reclined against his chair and let out a sigh.

Sae went down the elevator to the lobby. Looking out over the big lobby of the SIU building, she could see her contact. He wore a tan peacoat, black trousers, and black gloves with a white suitcase. As she approached him, she saw that he had chin-length, shaggy brown hair and reddish-brown eyes. The public knows him as the second Detective Prince, but Sae just knows him as Akechi Goro.

"Did you ask for me? Is it a case?" he asked as he put his phone back in his pocket.

"Not quite. I want your opinion on something." she said as she walked past him.

"Sure. Your judgment is quite often correct, though." He then approached her, "Can we discuss this over sushi, perhaps? You are making a student work late, after all."

"Conveyor belt only." responded Say as she continued down the stairs.

"Aw." sighed Akechi.

* * *

"Damn, to think there'd be that much traffic….What a waste of time." groaned Sojiro as the two of them walked back into the cafe. "I wasn't able to open the cafe today." Raoul let out a yawn as the older man finished. "Whatever. Just head upstairs. There's something I need to give you." Raoul nodded and walked upstairs, placing his glasses and coat on the table near the stairs. "Talk about a gruesome accident..hundred people were involved." sighed Sojiro as he followed Raoul up the stairs.

"How many dead?" he asked.

"This article doesn't say." responded Sojiro as he put away his phone and held up a small leather book, "It's a diary. Make sure you write in it." He tossed it on the table near his bag, "You may be under probation, but there's no special limitations on what you do in particular.

"Besides following the law." said Raoul as he grabbed the diary and began flipping through it.

"Right. However, I'm obligated to report on you, which is why I'm having you record your daily activities."

"Understood." Raoul closed the diary and placed it on the table again. Sojiro's phone then started ringing.

"Hey, what's up? Yeah, I'm about to leave right now." A small smile spread across his face, "Don't worry. I'll be there in no time. Uh-huh. I'll see you soon." He then hung up and turned back to face Raoul, "Well, I'm off. I'll lock the place up, so do whatever you want for the rest of the night." His face then turned stern, "Oh, but don't mess up my store. If something goes missing, I'll hand you right over to the cops. You got school tomorrow...You better head off to bed, all right?" Sojiro then walked down and a few seconds later, Raoul heard the door to the cafe close. Raoul then changed into his bed clothes and began writing in the diary of the day's events. About halfway through his entry, a phone began ringing. Raoul looked as his cellphone to see if anyone was calling, but there was no such thing.

'Maybe it's downstairs.' thought the boy as he walked downstairs to see the yellow public phone at the edge of the counter ringing. Quickly, he walked over and answered, "Hello?"

"Yo, it's me." said the voice.

"Who?"

"Don't tell me you've already forgotten my voice, it's me, Sakura."

"Oh, sorry. Your voice sounds different on the phone." responded Raoul.

"Uh-huh. Umm, I closed up shop, but I forgot to flip the sign to CLOSED. Would you mind doing it for me. It's too much of a hassle for me to go back and do it myself."

"Sure, no problem."

"Thanks. But I'm sure no one's gonna come, even if it says OPEN. Thank goodness, I was able to reach you."

"You could've called my cell." responded Raoul.

"I make it a habit not to save men's phone numbers on my phone. Anyway, I'm glad you answered the phone over in the shop. Okay then. I'm leaving you in charge of the door sign." The line then cut as Sojiro hung up. Raoul then proceeded to walk outside the cafe and flip the sign to CLOSED before going back upstairs and flopped onto the bed.

"I need to take the train to school…" he murmured as he grabbed his map and took a picture of it. He then put his phone away and began reading the map, "Yongen-Jaya..Aoyama-Itchome...Transfer…..It looks like I need to go out to Shibuya, then transfer there." He then decided to check the internet but all he saw were articles and updates about the accident that occurred earlier that day. 'It sounds like a lot of people were hurt. I bet this'll affect the time tables for tomorrow too...' As he clicked out of the app, something familiar caught his attention.

"That strange app I saw last night is back. Weird. Has my phone been hacked? Better reset it and see what happens." he murmured to himself. As soon as he plugged in and rebooted his phone, Raoul's eyelids began to feel heavy and he drifted into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 3: Castle Discovery

'Time for school. Don't want to be late.' thought Raoul as he let out a sigh. He grabbed his bag and headed down into the cafe. Sojiro was already behind the counter when he got there and Raoul quietly walked past him towards the door.

"Hey, wait a minute. You're actually going to school?" he asked, quite surprised.

"Contrary to popular belief, I actually do care about my education." responded Raoul.

"Don't be a wise ass with me. Regardless, sit down, I'll feed you. Just make sure you finish it before the customers start coming in." snapped the elder man as he placed a plate on the counter. Raoul approached and saw a soup-like liquid with chunks of meat inside.

"What is it?" he asked as he sat on the stool.

"Curry."

"Hmm." Raoul took a spoonful and placed into his mouth. A burst of flavor ran through, it was nothing like he ever tasted before, it was pretty damn good. "My god, this is great!"

"Thanks." responded Sojiro as Raoul began wolfing down the food, he hasn't eaten since lunch the day before. Within minutes, he finished and handed the plate to Sojiro; he then brushed his teeth and prepared to head out. "Time for you to go." said Sojiro as Raoul returned to the cafe.

"Thanks for the meal, it was great." responded Raoul.

"Hurry over to school. You'll end up late if you get lost on the way. Oh, and make sure you flip the sign." Raoul nodded and hurried out, flipping the sign before heading to the train station. He got there just as the train was pulling in.

"Lower line, heading to Shibuya." chimed the intercom. Raoul boarded and went to the far end as more people boarded. By the time the train began moving out, the car was packed by salarymen and students. It turns out that the rumors about the Tokyo subway are true after all. Raoul looked up at the ceiling to see that the small LCD screens were showing the news, in fact, Raoul could tell that it was the same news as the day before. And it seemed like there were still some lingering effects from the accident, but Raoul was impressed by how fast they cleaned it up. After a few minutes later, the train pulled into Shibuya Station. Once there, he spent several minutes looking at his map and at the map in the station, trying to find his way through the terminal. All around him, the people were milling about going through their daily routine. Eventually, Raoul found that in order to get to the Ginza Line for Aoyama-Itchome, he had to surface and transfer from there.

Sighing, Raoul climbed the steps and stepped out into Shibuya Square. From what he learned, both from reading and following the other students that wore his uniform, the route to the Ginza Line was inside the Teikyu building. Raoul looked and saw TEIKYU written on one of the buildings. As he made his way there, he felt a slight tap on his shoulder, looking over, he saw a small water stain on his shoulder, it was starting to rain.

"Shit.." murmured Raoul, he didn't bring an umbrella. Picking up his pace, he hurried into the TEIKYU building, up to several different stairs, reaching the platform just as the train was pulling in. Within one fluid motion, he hopped onto the train and checked his phone again. One news story did catch his eye, apparently, some of the perpetrators the accident involving mental shutdowns had nervous breakdowns during interrogation and that when they committed the acts, it was like some kind of mania. As he continued to read, the train just bounced along quietly for several stops before the announcement he was waiting for came one. The train then pulled into Aoyama-Itchome; Raoul knew he was at the right stop as he saw several more students wearing Shujin uniforms. Quietly, Raoul made his way to the exit of the subway only to be greeted with an annoying surprise, it had started to rain, not a lot but a decent amount, and he had no umbrella. "Shit...Shit….shit.." he continued to mutter as he dashed from cover to cover, it didn't help that the rain was getting more intense as he went. Eventually, he came to rest a bit in front of a boutique shop. There, he pulled out his phone to check the time and to see if it was wet, not necessarily in that order. Thankfully, nothing was wrong and he had at least an hour before school started. As Raoul pulled up his map, a familiar app booted up on his screen. 'Again?' he thought.

Before he could do anything however, another figure walked over to where he was standing, probably to take shelter from the rain as well as they had a damp hoodie on. Doing a quick visual scan of their body, Raoul saw that it was a girl. She wiped herself and removed her hoodie; two long, thick, ash blonde pigtails then flowed out. Raoul's heart almost skipped a beat at the sight of her. She was considerably beautiful at a glance, with light blue eyes; she also seemed to be half Japanese like himself though she looked more Caucasian than him. However, Raoul could sense some air of sadness about her. He realized that he was staring when she finally turned to look at him.

"Umm, sorry." he said somewhat meekly, which caused a smile to grow across her face. She then turned away and the two sat quietly, listening to the rain fall onto the ground. After about a minute, a gray sedan pulled up in front of them. The window rolled down and Raoul could see a man in his early thirties sitting in the driver seat, he was pretty fit, Raoul didn't seem to recognize him but the girl seemed to.

"Good morning. You want me to give you a ride to school? You're going to be late." he asked. Raoul couldn't really see all of his features but he did see that he had a rectangular face and curly hair that seemed to stick off the sides like horns.

"Umm, sure." said the girl, moving towards the car. Seems like she trusts him.

"What about you?" asked Raoul as the girl got in; Raoul just smiled and waved his hand, refusing the offer. The girl buckled up and the man raised the window. However, Raoul could see for a split second that the girl did not enjoy this like she was keeping a facade or something. The car pulled away, and Raoul watched it go. Just as it had begun to pick up speed, another person ran to where the car just was. He was wearing his school uniform but with a punk, aesthetic added to it. His blazer was open, compared to the regulation attire that Raoul had read, he had a yellow t-shirt and dyed blonde hair that almost looked golden.

"Damnit, screw that pervy teacher." Raoul heard him curse.

"Pervy teacher?" murmured Raoul. Unbeknownst to either of the men, the mysterious app picked up Raoul's voice. The new stranger turned to look at Raoul and a scowl crossed his face as he got into Raoul's private space.

"What do you want? Plan on ratting me out to Kamoshida?" he growled.

"Kamoshida? Who's that?" asked Raoul. The boy was slightly taken aback.

"Huh? In that car just now, that was Kamoshida."

"I see." said Raoul. The boy's scowl then returned.

"That bastard does whatever the hell he wants. Who the hell does he think he is-the king of a castle? Don't you agree?"

"King of a Castle?" Raoul was completely confused.

"No, I mean...wait. You really don't know Kamoshida? You for real?" now the boy was confused.

"Dude, I have no idea who or what you're talking about." responded Raoul.

"You go to Shujin right?" he asked.

"I just transferred." responded Raoul.

"Hmm. Then no wonder you don't know him." The boy then began scanning Raoul, focusing on his collar, where a button with a 2 rested. "A second year huh? We're in the same grade then." The boy looked out to check the rain. "The rain ain't too bad. We better hurry up, or we'll be late." The boy turned and began walking when a powerful pulse slammed into Raoul's head and he then felt light-headed, the boy was also affected as well.

"What the hell?" they both groaned together.

"Ugh, my head hurts." he then began walking mumbling something along the lines that he wanted to go home. Raoul followed closely behind him as he seemed to be the one that knew the way to the school.

* * *

"There was a terrible subway accident that day. You remember it don't you?" Raoul said nothing but his interrogator continued, "I assume you know of the uproar caused by what the public has called "Psychotic Breakdown Incidents" right?"

"What does this have to do with my interrogation?" asked Raoul to which his interrogator only sighed.

"It was all over the news that day." she said, "and one of the victims was a teacher at your school. I've no doubt that you've heard about it. On that day, you were still an "ordinary student" right?"

"Define ordinary." responded Raoul.

"Let me change the question then. You just transferred into Shujin Academy correct?" Raoul nodded, "An ordinary prep school that could be found in any city….That's what it should have been. What happened around that time? Answer me, truthfully."

* * *

As the two boys continued to walk, the mysterious app, unbeknownst to either one, was running unimpeded. Raoul unconsciously put his phone away as he followed his companion through an alley. As they walked, the rain picked up a bit, but not by much. Raoul stepped on a puddle, not something important in of itself, but when he picked it up, a weird splash echoed from it. Raoul stopped and looked back only to notice that the world now had a weird red hue to it.

"The hell?" came a cry from Raoul's companion. He ran up to see that the school that he had visited the day before had now been replaced by an enormous medieval castle. "We didn't come the wrong way though." he said looking back to the alleyway where they came.

"No, I don't think we did." said Raoul, pointing at a sign that read 'Shujin Academy'.

"Then I guess we'll just have to go in and ask." Raoul nodded and the two slowly and cautiously made their way into the castle. Coming into a large courtyard, the two proceeded forwards till they came to a large wooden door. Upon opening it and going inside, they were surprised to find that a very elaborate mezzanine awaited them. With red curtains and carpets, along with chandeliers that may have cost a fortune, the main hall was decked to the brim with these. However, Raoul could also see, for a split second, the image of this hall phase out to show the actual academy before returning to the world to its original state. "That's weird." said the boy, rubbing his head, "Where's the school?"

"This is weird." said Raoul.

"Yeah." responded the boy, he quickly pulled out his phone and looking at it, only to widen his eyes in shock, "Out of service? Where'd we end up? The sign for the school was right, right?"

"Yeah." responded Raoul. Then, there was a clanking of metal. The two boys turned to see someone in a suit of armor, armed with a longsword and shield walk up to them. The figure towered over the two of them but at present, didn't seem hostile.

"Geez, you freaked me out." sighed Ryuji, "Who're you? You a student?" No response. The boy walked up to the figure, "Man, I have to say though, your costume is impressive. Is that armor real?" Still no response, "C' mon, don't just stand there, say something."

"Uh, dude, I don't like his vibe." said Raoul.

"What'd you mean?" asked his companion. Then, more guys wearing identical armor appeared and the group began advancing on the two. "Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this." said Raoul, slowly backing away.

"Same dude." responded the boy, also backing away slowly. The weird knight approached slowly but more menacingly than before. The two students tensed up, ready to run at a moment's notice, "This shit's real." Raoul's companion said, to which the other knight somewhat circled around and made a threatening move.

"Run!" yelled Raoul and took off, his companion close behind him. They only got about twenty feet when two more guards appeared, surrounding the two of them.

"What's with these guys!" yelled his companion. Immediately after, one of the guards hit in the back with his shield, knocking him to the ground, "Gah! What the hell!? You're going to break my bones dammit! Who the hell do you think you are!?" The four guards then grabbed them by their arms and violently yanked them away.

"Take them away!" said one the guards, it was the first time Raoul heard him speak, it was a deep hollow voice that had no life to it. When Raoul tried to struggle free, he was hit on the back of his head with something, knocking him out cold.

* * *

"Hey! Wake up!" a voice said through the darkness as Raoul struggled back to consciousness. He awoke to find himself face to face with his new friend who was holding his glasses out to him.

"Thanks." said Raoul quietly as he put his glasses on and sat up. Taking a quick look around him, he could see that they were in a cell of some kind. It had several restraining chains on the wall and barrels grouped together in a corner. "You good?"

"Yeah, more or less." sighed the boy. He stood up and looked around, pinching himself and knocking on the walls. "Shit, looks like this ain't a dream. Ugh, what's going on!?" he began jogging towards the cell door, and as he did, Raoul could see that small streaks of red follow his steps, it looked like the boy was continuously stepping on puddles, it weirded him out. Raoul stood up and began checking what happened if he walked, to his surprise, the same thing happened. He then heard a clanging noise, looking up he saw his companion shaking the door to their cell, "Hey! Let us outta here! I know there's someone out there!" No response, with any further yelling being pointless, he walked back over to where Raoul stood, "Dammit, where are we!? Is this some kind of TV set?"  
"I don't think so. Those guys who got us, they were way too big." said Raoul, placing his hand on his chin to think.

"I guess…" said his companion when there was a loud noise behind them. It sounded like screaming. "No fucking way, there's other people too?" said his companion in shock.

"This is bad." muttered Raoul, he could feel his heartbeat skyrocketing. "Let's try to find a way out of this." Raoul then turned and began looking around feverishly, this was an old cell, there must be a way out. He knew he had to hurry, there was no way he could screw up his first day at school any more than he already had. But after a few minutes of looking, the two could not find anything. "Dammit," said Raoul. Just then, there was a loud bang as the door to the cell opened and a small contingent of guards walked in and Raoul could see among them was something more akin to a person but he was dressed really weird, and looked vaguely familiar.

"I was wondering what kind of thief my men have captured, but it turns out to be only you Sakamoto." said the weird man.

"Kamoshida, you bastard, what the hell is going on?" growled Raoul's companion, who Raoul just learned was named Sakamoto. Raoul then had an internal eureka moment, he now knew where he'd recognized this new figure. This was the guy who picked up the pretty girl that Raoul met earlier in the day, but there was something different about the one who stood in front of them. This one had almost no clothes on save for a bright pink underwear, an obsenly sparkling pink cape and a golden crown on his head. His eyes, however, were the weirdest, they were solid gold and he had the most condescending expression on his face.

Kamoshida sighed, "First you break in and now you're insulting the king." he looked up to Sakamoto and his eyes then turned murderous, it was like nothing Raoul had ever seen before, "The punishment…..is death!" Raoul and Sakamoto stood there in shock as a guard began walking up the two boys.

"No….nononono!" cried Sakamoto as he began to walk backwards in fear. Raoul attempted to get in front of the guard but was knocked back, flying into the wall, like he was a rag doll.

"Restrain him. His turn will come later." said Kamoshida pointing at Raoul. The other two guards nodded and hoisted Raoul onto his feet, pinning him against the wall. "Now then…" said Kamoshida, his horrible smirk still wide on his face as he approached Sakamoto who by this time was hoisted up by his throat by the third guard, "TAKE THIS!" a fist slammed into Sakamoto's stomach which knocked the air out of him. "TAKE THAT!" another fist slammed into the boy's face, bruising it immediately. Despite the form being horrible, Raoul could tell that Kamoshida's blows had a lot of force behind them. Raoul struggled to free himself from the iron grip of the two guards assigned to keep him from interfering, his body now moving on a primordial instinct to survive. The barrage of blows kept coming and Raoul knew that within a matter of seconds, Sakamoto could be knocked out, or even worse, killed.

"Stop!" Raoul managed to yell out. Kamoshida stopped. He then turned to Raoul, a mix of shock for Raoul standing up to him and hate for being interrupted.

"Shut up! Wait your turn." And after a brief nod of the head, a fist slammed into Raoul's face, knocking him back onto the ground. He was then picked up and once again, pinned to the wall by the two guards. "Now then, onto the main event." said Kamoshida as he drew his guard's sword and ordered him to drop Sakamoto, to which the guard did without hesitation.

"No...please! I don't want to die!" whimpered Sakamoto through his injuries. Raoul could only look at what was about to become a gory scene. Raoul closed his eyes, about to give up.

"This is it." he mumbled to himself.

"Really? How pathetic!" A voice. Raoul looked up for the source of the new voice, there was no one. "Are you really going to forsake him to save yourself?" The voice...it came from inside. "Death awaits him if you do nothing. You have the power to save him." it sounded similar to Raoul's if he had a baritone voice. "Was your previous decision a mistake then!" For an instant, Raoul thought of the woman, her assailant and everything that had transpired since, did he really regret it? No, he didn't, he knew he did the right thing regardless of the circumstances.

"No, it wasn't." he seethed. The voice chuckled.

"Very well then, I have weighed your resolve…...You are worthy." Raoul then felt a sharp pain rage through his head, it was like if someone took a drill and began running it slowly through Raoul's head. Raoul grabbed his head and began groaning profusely, "Vow to me. I am thou, thou art I. Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice! Call upon me, and unleash thy rage! Show thy will to ascertain all on thine own. Though thou be chained to HELL ITSELF!"

"DIE!" yelled Kamoshida as he prepared to run Sakamoto through.

"ENOUGH!" Kamoshida turned to look at Raoul, who still held his head in his hands, though the pain was gone.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"I said, enough." Raoul said, with a confidence that he didn't know he had.

"You want to die first? Fine." he then made a slitting throat motion to his soldier who back away from Raoul, drew his sword and prepared to run him through. Just before he could proceed, Raoul's eyes flew open and a powerful wind blew everyone to the ground, even the "king." Raoul looked up and saw that he wasn't looking through his glasses anymore, instead, there was some kind of domino mask with a birdlike design. He reached up to remove it but couldn't. Panicking, he began to tug harder…..and harder, and harder until he was in great pain. The mask, however, was actually giving way, so he didn't stop. The pain was like nothing he ever felt. With a cry, Raoul managed to rip off the mask, blood flowing from where the mask was. The pain then faded almost immediately, a fire was burning inside Raoul. He opened his eyes and found himself smiling. One not filled with malice but with confidence. A circle of blue fire ignited around his feet. As that was happening, the same blue fire ignited his shoes and began working its way up. Strangely, it did not burn him. Steadily, the fire climbed, enveloping him in a pillar of blue flame. Through it all, he could see Sakamoto's shocked face and Kamoshida backing away in fear. Raoul felt a presence rising behind him, also covered in flames. In one fluid motion, he crossed his arms across his chest.

"Come!" he yelled and he brought his arms down, which dissipated the blue flames around him and the new presence immediately came to being. The smile that had spread across Raoul's face remained. The power flowing through him was incredible. Unknownst to him, he had also transformed. He now bore a black ankle-length tailcoat that split into three tails, a high-necked waistcoat with red buttons, black dress pants, pitch-black winklepickers boots, and a pair of red gloves.

"Get him!" yelled Kamoshida and the guards ran up to them and they transformed into floating jack-o-lanterns with lanterns in a Halloween witch costume, they had no body, the clothing hung loosely as if it were attached to the head. The transformed guards then rushed Raoul only to be blown back by a gust of wind. Raoul turned around and for the first time, he got a glimpse of the new figure. He was enormous, standing at least nine feet tall, hovering in the air above Raoul. He had enormous black wings that seemed to stretch in at least a ten-foot wingspan. He was dressed as an 18th-century gentleman, in a nice red coat and pants, a black button up undershirt, red-bladed heeled boots, and a white cravat with a black top hat. However, they were made almost picaresque: the hat was elongated vertically, the being's limbs seemed to be like the limb positions one would find on a skeleton, with his fingers being something more akin to claws than normal fingers. His face was demonic in nature, having no discernible features save for a jagged jack-o-lantern face that glowed a deep red. Sticking out of the darkness that was its head, were two long, demonic horns that rose up before jutting out in front of him at a sharp angle. It looked down at Raoul.

"I am the pillager of twilight, Arsene! I am the rebellious soul that lies within your heart. If you so wish, I shall consider granting you the power to break through this crisis." He proclaimed proudly, Raoul smiled.

"If you don't mind."

"Hmph, very well." The two of them turned to face their new enemies who were backing away in terror, "Hate your enemy! Destroy them utterly!"

"With pleasure." Raoul pointed at the enemies before them, a word seemed to come to him naturally, "Maeiha." Arsene raised his hand and pointed them towards the two enemies. Two beams of energy blew out of his hand and slammed into the enemies, blasting them into the walls. When the beams died down, the two enemies were gone. Arsene had obliterated them. Raoul then turned his attention onto Kamoshida who was backing away from the two of them slowly.

"Stay away!" he cried. Raoul, with a cold look in his eyes, approached Kamoshida with Arsene floating behind him. All of a sudden Kamoshida was knocked to the ground by Sakamoto, who managed to get up despite his injuries. This surprised Raoul causing him to lose focus and caused Arsene to vanish, he thought that Sakamoto had been too beaten to move.

"Get the keys!" yelled Sakamoto. Raoul quickly looked around and saw and a ring of keys on the belt of one of the guards. "Let's go!" yelled Sakamoto and the two of them ran out of the cell. Raoul's new mask had returned to his face, a byproduct of Arsene fading away.

"The door!" said Raoul and the two of them grabbed the metal door and with some effort, closed the heavy iron door. Trapping Kamoshida inside. Sakamoto then grabbed the keys and was about to throw them into the river that was running behind them, but Raoul grabbed his arm.

"Wait, we might need them." Once Raoul saw the river, he knew they were underground in a dungeon of some kind and the keys may work later. Sakamoto nodded and put the keys in his pocket.

"Dammit!" yelled Kamoshida.

"Let's go!" said Sakamoto taking off down the hall. Raoul followed. As they ran, they could hear Kamoshida yelling curses and calling for more guards. "So what the hell was that!? And what's with your clothes!?" It was only at this time that Raoul looked down to see that the new clothes he was wearing. However, the second he paid attention to it, it faded away in a flash of blue flame, reverting to his school uniform. They ran forwards, only to find that the iron bars were rusted locked. Raoul pulled on them but it had no effect. "Crap…" groaned Sakamoto, "What now?" Raoul looked over to see that a small bridge had given out, but the gap looked jumpable.

"We could try jumping that." he said, pointing at the broken bridge.

"I guess." said Ryuji. Raoul backed a bit and with a running start, cleared the gap with incredible ease. "Wait up." Sakamoto then mimicked Raoul's movement, also clearing the gap with ease. To their left was an open door. They ran through but there were no bridges for them to cross to the other side, which they saw had a door that might lead to the outside.

"Now what?" groaned Raoul

"Look, there's a couple of boxes over there." said Sakamoto pointing at the far end of the chamber they were in. Raoul looked and saw that there were a series of crates that were laid in the river and seemed passable.

"Okay then." The two teens ran up to the mouth of the river that flowed in. It was then that they saw that the crates were in fact cages, though they had no one in them. "That is fucked up." Once again taking a running start, Raoul jumped onto the first cage. His foot slipped and got caught in the square grid that was the top of the cage, almost smashing his privates as he slid down; he managed to catch himself at the last moment. "Shit, that was close." he said with a sigh of relief.

"Careful." said Sakamoto. Raoul carefully stood back up before attempting a jump to the second crate, this time it went much more smoothly.

"C' mon." said Raoul, beckoning Sakamoto to follow him.

"Okay." Sakamoto jumped and did not make the same mistake as Raoul. Raoul jumped once again on a third cage and then again to make it to the other side. The two then headed left following the path in the direction where they came. The only complication was that a water wheel was rotating and its edges were jutting out onto the path. Raoul and Sakamoto carefully made their way because behind them was the artificial river, one false move and they're knocked into it.

"Ugh…" groaned Raoul they reached the door that had rusted shut. He put his hands on his hips and looked around. To the left was the river, so that was not an option. "Any bright ideas?" he asked.

"I mean besides the open cell next to us." said Sakamoto, jabbing his thumb towards the cell to his right. "None…..Damn it! Why'd this have to happen!?" Raoul looked into the cell. Upon closer inspection he….wait, what is that?

"I think I found something." Raoul moved over into the cell and bent down. "Hey, think we could fit through this." Sakamoto walked over to where Raoul was crouching and a smile grew across his face.

"Yeah." Raoul nodded and began crawling through the hole in the wall.

"These walls are thick." he grumbled as the two crawled.

"Gah! My bag's stuck." Eventually, they managed to crawl through and into another cell. Raoul tugged on the door, locked.

"Crap, hand me the keys." He said turning to Sakamoto, who promptly gave Raoul the keys. Within seconds, the door was opened and they stepped another hallway with the same river as before but this time, there was a drawbridge.

"A drawbridge?" asked Sakamoto.

"This is too weird." responded Raoul as he began to cross.

"Not as weird as summoning a demon looking thing."

"Arsene."  
"What?"

"That its name, as I understand it."

"Huh."

They had made to the other side of the drawbridge. There was another locked door to their left that led nowhere. Quickly, they made their way to the right where they found a door that led up to the main hall. There was nobody up there upon entering it.

"Seems like no one's home." said Raoul. The two quickly made their way to the front door and ran out of the castle towards the alleyway. As they did, the world began to warp again and seconds later, they found themselves panting in front of the real Shujin Academy. "Is the castle gone?" asked Raoul.

"What castle?" asked a new voice. A chill ran down Raoul's spine, he recognized that voice. He slowly turned around to see Kamoshida and a very angry employee standing at the entrance to the school. But something was different about Kamoshida, no longer was he wearing that atrocious outfit that they saw in the castle, but was wearing typical gym clothes. "Well, well, well…" said Kamoshida as he flashed a smile, Raoul burned with hatred, it was the same smile they saw, "Late on your first day?"

"Got really lost." said Raoul quickly, it was the first thing that he could think of that sounded sane.

"I'll bet...and you Sakamoto...late again? I expected better from you."

"Shut up…" grumbled Sakamoto.

"Where's that energy from your time with the track team huh?" Sakamoto didn't respond as he was herded in by the employee who seemed to be a counselor or attendance officer of some sorts. Raoul quietly followed Sakamoto but was stopped by Kamoshida, "Say, haven't we met before?"

"This morning." said Raoul somewhat quietly. Kamoshida seemed to ponder before snapping his fingers.

"Aw yes, you were with Takamaki in front of that store." Raoul finally had a name and a face for the pretty girl he saw earlier. "You better get to the staff room, Ms. Kawakami is waiting for you, it's on the second floor." Raoul continued on quietly. Once inside the school, he could hear all the whispering. Whispering about how he does drugs and alcohol, how he carries a knife in his bag, how he's unhinged, and the list just goes on.

'How quickly rumors get out of hand.' thought Raoul. Unfortunately, he wasn't paying attention and ended up bumping into a girl, who spilled her papers all over the ground. "Oh! I'm so sorry." he said as he crouched and began to rapidly gather the papers, stack them, and then put them back in the girl's hands.

"It's fine." she managed to stutter out before walking away fast. Raoul did a quick scan of her, this habit he cultivated to do good in school also helped him remember people. She had black hair like his tied in a ponytail with a pink hairband; she mostly wore the same standard uniform except she didn't have the jacket and instead of wore a beige sweater underneath her short-sleeved turtleneck. But something odd struck Raoul, something that he knew all too well from his training. She walked with a slight limp and had dark bandages on her arm and elbows. Raoul didn't scan for anything else because he ran the risk of staring and causing more rumors, so he continued on, the people spreading like the Red Sea. Finally, he managed to find the Faculty Office and with a huge sigh, he went in.

"Unbelievable." sighed Kawakami as he approached her desk. "Being over half a day late on your first day? Can you explain yourself?"

"I got lost on the trains." said Raoul.

"How could you have been lost for over half a day? It's almost noon." grumbled Kawakami.

"I don't know if anybody told you, I'm not from Japan. I'm from America, I don't know the subways yet." said Raoul quietly. Kawakami narrowed her eyes before sighing.

"Fine, I'll let you off just this once but pull yourself together. You were given a fair warning yesterday." Kawakami then stood up and began walking out of the staff room. "Let's go, lunch is about to end." Raoul nodded and followed her out just as the bell began ringing. Going out and turning right twice, Raoul found himself outside a classroom that had 2-D written on a sign above the door, "I hear you got caught with Sakamoto."

"Yeah, it was by coincidence." said Raoul. Kawakami simply shook her head.

"Don't get involved with him, he's nothing but trouble." Raoul said nothing. "When we get inside, let me do the talking. You just stand there and try not to draw any more attention."

"Yes ma'am." said Raoul.

"And be serious. Do not say anything unnecessary." Raoul nodded. Kawakami then slid the door open and went inside the classroom. Taking her position behind the teacher's desk she addressed the class, "Good morning. I have a couple of announcements but first, I want to introduce a transfer student." She then beckoned Raoul to come into the classroom, "This is Raoul Collins and he will be here for the next year."

"Nice to meet you." said Raoul. Almost immediately after he introduced himself, he heard all the whispering about him, partially because they were surprised at his name, but mostly on his past record. One thing Raoul noticed was that two students weren't engaged in the talking, one was looking down and the other was looking out the window bored. The one looking down, Raoul didn't know why but he had similar injuries to the girl he saw earlier, the one looking out the window was the person Raoul now knew as Takamaki.

"He's an American transfer student, so please don't give him a hard time about customs. Anyways, we had him attend later in the day so he could acquaint himself the subway systems." Raoul heard some grumbling in the class, but Kawakami continued as if nothing was happening. "Umm, so….Ah! Why don't you sit over there behind Ms. Takamaki?" Raoul looked towards where Kawakami to see an empty seat behind Takamaki.

"Yes ma'am." said Raoul who then quietly made his way there. As he moved towards his desk, he heard Takamaki murmur something.

"Lies." Raoul stopped and looked at her for a split second before continuing. As he sat down, he heard people whispering if they knew each other with some girls giggling about the fact that Takamaki is "cheating" on Kamoshida. Raoul didn't understand, nor did he really care. His main goal was to keep his head down, but that castle and Arsene seemed to be calling out to him, he couldn't get it out of his mind. The rest of the day was pretty boring by any standard. Kawakami had asked the other students around Raoul to share their textbooks, which they only half complied with. As soon as class ended, Raoul immediately packed up and walked out, determined to get home as quickly as possible. Sojiro must be furious right now.

As soon as he walked out, a sharp pain struck him in the head. Raoul's vision flickered, momentarily showing a scene that seems reminiscent of the castle. He grabbed his head and let out a quiet groan as the pain faded as quickly as it came.

"What's wrong?" Raoul turned around to Kawakami coming out of the classroom.

"Nothing it's a just….a headache. What is it, Ms. Kawakami?" Kawakami looked down.

"It seems that everyone's already talking about you, but I'm not the one who told them." She then grumbled something about being stuck with Raoul. "Anyways, you should head straight home without stopping by any place, Mr. Sakura sounded pretty angry."

"I kinda figured." said Raoul with a weak smile.

"Oh, and about Sakamoto, don't get invol-" she cut herself off as Sakamoto walked up to the two of them, "Speak of the devil. What do you want? I heard you were caught cutting classes earlier today."

"It was nothin'." he grumbled.

"And you still haven't died your hair back to black either." sighed Kawakami.

"Sorry 'bout that." Sakamoto grumbled. He then turned and whispered to Raoul, "I'll be waitin on the roof." Sakamoto then turned and headed up the stairs.

"See?" said Kawakami shaking her head, "That's why I don't want you getting involved. Understood? Remember that unlike the States, we have school six times a week, though there's a half day of school on Saturdays."

"Yes ma'am." said Raoul. Kawakami then began walking towards the staff room, he waited until she turned the corner before heading up the stairs towards the roof.

"Why did you let a student like him transfer here? He's already started associating with people like Sakamoto." Raoul stopped and looked back, Kamoshida and Principal Kobayakawa standing in the hallway together, they may have just come up the stairs from the first floor, "A student with a criminal record and the culprit of an assault case." he then put his hands on his hips and shook his head, "At this rate, it won't matter how much I contribute to the school." Kobayakawa placed his meaty hands on Kamoshida's shoulder.

"Now, don't be like that. This is school counts on you Kamoshida, you're our star. Still, a steady build-up is necessary behind such brilliance."

"Your troubles never do seem to end sir."

"I suppose." sighed Kobayakawa, taking out a handkerchief and wiping away some sweat.

"All right, I'll continue to meet the expectations set for me."

"Thank you, Suguru." Kobayakawa then turned and began walking down the hallway. Kamoshida turned and started up the stairs, as he did, he noticed Raoul sitting with his phone. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kamoshida glare at him with a menacing vibe, the feeling was mutual, Raoul was already starting to hate him. As soon as he was completely out of sight, Raoul continued up the stairs, as he came up he turned the corner and ran into another girl, but this time she didn't drop anything as she was not carrying anything.

"I'm so sor-" Raoul tired to apologize but when he caught a glimpse of her, he froze. She was beautiful, even more so than Ms. Takamaki by his judgment. She had brown hair in a bob cut with blunt bangs and a brown headband. Her eyes were reddish brown eyes that seemed to pierce him with a serious look but not so serious that it was mean. She then continued down the stairs without a word. Raoul watched her disappear around the staircase before continuing up the last flight, arriving at the entrance to the roof. The door opened onto a small pavilion. The far half was covered in generators. To the left were a couple of well taken care of plants that were lined up in their pots. To his right was the courtyard of the school, a large rectangular space with grass patches and covered walkways. In front of Raoul was a group of old desks and sitting on one of the chairs was Sakamoto, typing on his phone.

"Hey." said Raoul as he approached him.

"Hey." responded Sakamoto, who promptly put his phone away. "I thought you weren't coming."

"No I was, but I can't stay long, I'm already in enough trouble as it is." said Raoul as he sat down.

"Don't worry, I just want to say something."

"What is it?"

"Thanks for saving my life."

"No problem."

"But I want to go back."

"Excuse me?" Raoul was completely taken aback, though his voice didn't show it, "You know we only barely got out of that deathtrap."

"I know, but there's something I have to confirm about Kamoshida."

"What?" asked Raoul. Ryuji looked down and almost shuddered in rage.

"There are rumors. Rumors that he abuses those under him simply because he can…" he then began rubbing his knee, "When we were running, I heard screaming somewhere. I think there are people there, and they may need our help. Please! We need to take him down." Raoul sighed, and after a moment of consideration, he spoke.

"All right."

"You mean it!?" Ryuji suddenly lit up with enthusiasm.

"Yeah, but we have to it tomorrow, I'm already in enough trouble as it is and if I get home too late, I'm screwed."

"Same here." said Ryuji, standing up and stretching, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow after school."

"Yeah." responded Raoul. Ryuji began walking to the door, "Hey, wait."

"Yeah?" he asked turning.

"What's your full name?"

"I'm Ryuji...Ryuji Sakamoto. You?"

"Raoul Collins." Ryuji nodded before waving and heading back into the school. Raoul then pulled out his phone to check the time. Seeing that it was getting late, he hurried down towards the subway station.

* * *

Raoul walked quietly into Leblanc to see Sojiro closing up shop, from where Raoul stood, he was not happy at all.

"The school called." He said without looking up from the counter, Raoul gulped, "You came in super late. Are you trying to get expelled?"

"No sir, I got lost. It won't happen again." said Raoul, looking down.

"That's what everyone says." he huffed, "Look, just behave yourself. You're life's forfeit if anything happens. You do understand what probation means right?"

"Yes, sir I do." responded Raoul.

"Okay then." Sojiro's phone then began ringing, "Hey what's up?…... Yeah, I just closed up shop, be there in half an hour." he then hung up and noticed that Raoul was still standing there, "Hey, what're you standing around for? Go hurry on up to bed." he then turned back to his call, "...No, I just hired a part-timer." Raoul continued through the cafe towards the back before he heard Sojiro call out to him, "Don't forget to lock the door and turn off the lights, OK?"

"Yes, sir." said Raoul as he continued up the stairs. He could hear Sojiro still on the phone, walking out of the shop, but his voice was now reduced. Quietly, Raoul got ready for bed; then, the tiredness came out of nowhere, causing Raoul to almost collapse on the bed but he caught himself. Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, Raoul remembered that he still needed to do some housekeeping things. Slowly, he sauntered down and went through the procedure he did the day before: closing the shop by turning off the lights, locking the door, and flipping the sign. After that was complete, he sauntered back up the stairs and collapsed on the bed, this time clocking out for good.

* * *

Raoul's eyes once again opened to see the blue walls of the Velvet Room. His tiredness felt dulled but it still felt like he just woke up. He slowly stood up and shook the tiredness out of his head.

"About time you've come to." said a familiar voice. Raoul turned to see the twins standing in front of his cell.

"Caroline..right?" he asked tiredly pointing at her, the exhaustion still there a bit.

"On your feet, Inmate!" she yelled, slamming her baton on the bars. This time, Raoul didn't show any reaction.

"Right….Caroline's the mean one." he got up and walked to the cell door. "So, what do you guys want?"

"Our master wishes to speak to you. It's for your sake that you take his words to heart." responded Caroline as the two turned and stood at attention facing Igor.

"First, let us celebrate our reunion." said Igor in his deep bass voice. Raoul nodded, Igor returned the gesture and squinted his eyes a little though it was barely visible, "Oh…?" his eyes then returned to normal. "You've awakened to your powers. And special ones at that. It seems your rehabilitation can begin."

"Powers? Rehabilitation? What're you talking about?" Raoul desperately wanted answers at this point. This entire situation had become so weird.

"There is no need to understand all of this for the time being Mr. Collins." responded Igor, "But, I will answer one of your questions. The power you possess right now is the power of Persona, and you will be training in it to complete your rehabilitation."

"Persona? Like that thing from psychology?" asked Raoul.

"Not exactly. A Persona is like a mask that has taken on by a person to confront worldly matters."

"Then who, or what, is Arsene?" continued Raoul.

"Hey, you're supposed to listen!" scolded Caroline but Igor simply held up his hand.

"Arsene is the physical manifestation of your Persona power. Does that satisfy your inquiry?" Raoul nodded, "Good, I have high expectations for you Mr. Collins."

"What do you mean." asked Raoul to which Igor let out a small chuckle.

"There is no need to worry. You will learn when the time comes."

"That doesn't help." grumbled Raoul.

"By the by, have you come to appreciate the Metaverse Navigator?" asked Igor.

"Is that what that weird app was?" asked Raoul to which Igor simply nodded.

"Using that app will allow you to travel back and forth between reality and Palaces at will."

"Palaces?"

"Palaces are something you will gradually come to learn about in your rehabilitation."

"Okay then, then why did you give me the Navigator?"

"I bestowed it upon you as a means to train you a thief."

"A thief?"

"The Metaverse Navigator is a gift from our master! You better take care in using it Inmate!" said Caroline.

"Devote yourself to your training so you may become a fine thief." continued Justine.

"Wait, you guys are talking about thieving, what do you mean?" asked Raoul, pressing the issue again.

"You'll see soon." responded Igor.

"Well, you guys sure make questions tough." huffed Raoul. Igor only chuckled

"Now, it must be a bit disheartening to use the Navigator alone. Should there be others that would prove beneficial to you, I will grant the Navigator to them as well." his smile then widened a little, "This is all to mold you into the most excellent thief Mr. Collins, I hope to see you again soon." a security bell then began ringing in the distance.

"Hmph, it's time. Go back and enjoy whatever rest you might have." said Caroline. As soon as she finished, Raoul's vision began to blacken again until he lapsed back into unconsciousness.

**AN: Thanks for reading so far! Now, what I'm trying to do is stay as close to the spirit of the game as possible so it may be a while before updates as I have to double and triple check that everything checks out narratively and that I am able to translate game mechanics faithfully. Thankfully, with Smash Ultimate and now P5S, it will be easier to envision how Persona combat would actually be like. Till next time! P.S. I noticed people saying that it's basically the same as the game but don't worry, the major changes to the game will start around the time the game starts going, especially in how Raoul acts with his friends and what he partakes in.**


	6. Chapter 4: Castle Infiltration Part 1

Raoul got up the next morning and went to school like normal, sat through class like normal, and ate lunch with what little money he came to the city with. To be honest, he was sort of excited to go back into that other world for some reason. It just seemed so foreign and mysterious and it called to him. Finally, the end of the school day came. Raoul walked down into the alley in front of the school to see Ryuji already there, reclining on the wall.

"Ready?" he asked. Raoul nodded and booted up the app, "By the way." asked Ryuji as the world began to bend around them, "What's that app called, I couldn't find it on the app store. Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised, if something like that existed, then it would be the best selling app ever."

"Don't know. It just showed up on my phone a couple of days ago." responded Raoul as the world finished bending and the castle overtook the position of the school building. The two boys began walking towards the entrance, "Ryuji, wait." Raoul put his hand on Ryuji's shoulder to keep him from opening the door.

"What?"

"Maybe we shouldn't go in the front door." said Raoul, backing away from the door.

"Why not?"

"It's too easy, we need to find a back door if we're going to get people out." Raoul began walking around a corner, trying to find a door.

"Hey Raoul, when did you change clothes?" asked Ryuji. Raoul looked down to see that he was wearing the weird outfit he wore in the cell. He smiled.

"I don't know. Looks cool?"

"I guess if you think so." said Ryuji scratching his head. Raoul turned back around and when he did, he saw a loose looking window about ten feet up from where they were standing.

"Perfect." he said. He backed up a bit then ran towards the wall and when he jumped to begin running up the wall to grab the bars, he lifted up and flew straight into the wall just under the window, falling back onto the ground with a thud. "Dammit." he said when he got up.

"Dude! How'd you do that!?" asked Ryuji, his jaw dropped like the Genie in Aladdin.

"Do what?" groaned Raoul.

"You just jumped like ten feet into the air! That's gotta be like a world record!"

"I...don't know. But give me a boost this time." Ryuji, still dumbstruck, nodded and pressed his back against the wall. Raoul climbed up on him, "Now." Ryuji lifted his arms up as Raoul jumped again, though turning down the power considerably. This time, he managed to grab hold of the bars on the wall. He quickly placed his feet on the wall and began to pull hard.

"So...you mind telling me why we're doing this?" asked Ryuji as Raoul continued to pull on the bars.

"I...this window…..looked weak." said Raoul as he continued to pull on the window bars, "But it seems not." Just then, the window bars gave way and Raoul began plummeting down. Out of pure instinct, Raoul used the momentum generated from his pulling to do a reverse somersault, landing on the ground. However, he didn't land properly and fell on his butt onto the stone surface. "Oww…got to work on that." he groaned as he rubbed his rear.

"Well, I'll be damned…" said Ryuji looking up at the hole, "Hey, give me a boost." Raoul got back up and gave Ryuji his boost. Once up there, Ryuji extended his arm down for Raoul. Raoul did the running start again and grabbed Ryuji's arm. With some effort, Ryuji hauled Raoul into the room they ended up in. It was a small bookroom, not exactly a library but something similar on a small scale.

"Let's go." Raoul dropped down and moved towards the door, Ryuji hot on his trail. Creaking the door open and listening for the clanking of armor, which were not present, Raoul determined that there was nobody there. He pushed the door open and walked into a hallway. To the left were a couple of doors and to the right, there was the main hall that they got caught in earlier, "If I remember correctly, the dungeon is that direction." said Raoul pointing at the far side of the main hall, Ryuji nodded as confirmation. As quietly as possible, they made their way right through the main hall, keeping to the shadows as best they could.

"Weird." said Ryuji as the went down the stairs and through the door that led into the dungeon area. "I wonder why there aren't any guards."

"Just be glad there aren't." said Raoul as they continued down a spiral staircase. At the bottom, they came back to where the drawbridge was during their last time there. Slowly, they made their way down one of the alternate paths, finding rows of empty cells. "That's weird. All these cells and nobody here."

"But I could swear the screams were coming from this direction." sighed Ryuji.

"That's because they're not here, they're much lower." said a mysterious voice.

"Who's there?" asked Raoul, the two looking around.

"Hey, bird mask! Blondie! Over here!" Raoul and Ryuji looked down the hall to see a white paw sticking out of a cell, waving at them. The two of them walked over to get a good glimpse of the creature.

"What the hell?" asked both boys at the same time. It looked vaguely like a black cat without whiskers with blue eyes, white paws, muzzle, and tail tip, along with a yellow bandana. The weirdest thing was that it had a cartoonishly large head and eyes compared to the rest of his boy, he also had a utility belt strapped to his waist.

"What're you? A monster cat?" asked Ryuji bending down.

"I'm not a cat! I'm Morgana!" exclaimed the creature.

"Morgana?" said Raoul who also crouched, "What're you doing here?"

"I..got caught." sighed Morgana, "but I do know how to find what you're looking for. Look, let me out and I'll help you, but in return, you have to help me. Quid pro quo and all that."

Raoul and Ryuji looked at each other. Raoul shrugged and gestured towards the lock.

"All right." said Ryuji, pulling out the keys they stole the last time from his bag, "but you better not screw us over."

"Believe me, if I screw us over, we're all dead." said Morgana. Ryuji quickly unlocked the cell and opened the door. Morgana jumped out and stretched. "Ahh! Freedom! Now then." He turned towards Raoul and his eyes widened, "You. You seem like a Persona user. Perfect, that would be a great help in a pinch."

"Persona?" asked Ryuji.

"Think of it like hidden personality taken physical form." said Morgana. Raoul could tell that it was nearly identical to what Igor said Personas were. "We." said Morgana pointing at Raoul and himself in an alternating fashion, "Can use these Personas to do battle, you get now?"

"I guess." said Ryuji, still sort of confused.

"You're a little slow aren't you?" sighed Morgana.

"Shut up!" exclaimed Ryuji.

"Hey!" yelled a voice. The three turned to see a guard running up to them.

"Crap, they found us." said Raoul, slowly backing up. Morgana however, jumped in front of the two guys.

"No, we got to take him out before he calls for backup. You there, bird mask, help me out. Rip that mask off and call for your Persona."

"How?"

"Like this. Come, Zorro!" blast of blue energy erupted under Morgana and a being formed behind him. It was roughly the same size as Arsene, except it had major differences in appearance. Zorro the upper body of an Olympic bodybuilder with the lower body of a dancer. His face and mustache were somewhat fused into his hat. He had yellow eyes and a flowing black cape. He had a rapier in his right hand and a giant silver belt buckle with the letter Z emboldened on it.

"All right! Let's go, Arsene!" Raoul ripped the mast off his face and the mask disappeared in a burst of flame. The flame circled around behind him and formed into the now-familiar form of Arsene. The guard had skidded to a stop and transformed into a small pixie. "You're kidding me, I got to fight Tinkerbell now?"

"Don't underestimate them." said Morgana readying himself. "Let's go." The pixie charged at Raoul who put hands up and bent to the left. In one fluid motion, he dropped and brought his right arm up in an uppercut that slammed into the pixie's abdomen, sending the small creature up into the air.

"Eiga." said Raoul and Arsene let a blast of black and red energy fly out of his outstretched hand and slammed the pixie into the ceiling.

"I got this." Morgana jumped on the wall and bounced off, heading straight for the falling pixie. As he did, he held his paws above him. With a flash of flame, Morgana was holding a cutlass. He then slashed the pixie, cutting it in two. "Zorro!" he called to the Persona. The Persona acknowledged the wishes of its master; Zorro cut a Z into the air which turned green and transformed into a small whirlwind, ripping the pixie apart. "And we're done. Good job rookie."

"Thanks." said Raoul. The two turned back towards Ryuji.

"Dude, that was awesome!"

"What's more awesome is how this guy just pulled a sword out of nowhere." said Raoul gesturing to Morgana.

"Oh, that? That's Persona combat 101. Here, let me tell you what to do. First, hold out your hand." Raoul complied. "Now focus, imagine a weapon and then pull it out." Raoul closed his eyes and focused, after a few seconds, he could feel a handle on his palm. In one swift motion, he grabbed it and pulled. A flash of blue flame appeared around his hand. Raoul opened his eyes to see that he was holding an elongated black dagger with a silver triangle shape in the middle, it had no guard and the blade was about a foot long.

"Sweet." said Raoul, a smile plastered on his face.

"Great, now that we got that settled, let's go." Morgana turned and headed down the stairs. Raoul opened the door and took the lead. The three crept quietly through stone corridors, following the screaming till they turned a corner and saw a couple of guards patrolling in front of a door. "By the way, as a rule of thumb, don't fight needlessly."

"Why do you say that?" asked Raoul.

"Because if you do that, we'll be fighting every single Shadow in this place. Take out the ones who are completely isolated" said Morgana as the shadows made their way around the corner, "They're distracted, go!" The three raced through the door to the other side where they heard the screams clearly now.

"I think this is it." said Raoul as they approached one of the windows. Looking over it, they saw a grisly sight. "My God." There were several guards down there beating several people who held onto a volleyball net for dear life.

"What the hell is this!" yelled Ryuji.

"Quiet!" hissed Raoul as he covered Ryuji's mouth so nobody else heard him. Ryuji nodded and Raoul released him, "I guess these are the people you were talking about."

"Yeah...come on, we got to get them out." Ryuji then began fiddling with the keys before Morgana stopped them.

"Don't bother." it said.

"Why?!" asked a distraught Ryuji.

"Because they're not real. They're just projections of the ruler's consciousness." said Morgana, turning back to the scene. "Still, if this is how he sees them, then the real situation's got to be just as bad."

"Kinda like the dream world in Inception." murmured Raoul.

"Wait...I recognize these people! They're the volleyball team!" said Ryuji.

"If the situation in real life is remotely similar to this, we may have grounds to get Kamoshida fired or worse." said Raoul. He then turned to Ryuji, "We should take pictures, maybe we can get a player to talk."

"Oh, right…" Ryuji pulled out his phone and began tapping it...then tapped again, and again and again. "What the hell?"

"What?" Raoul walked over to him.

"My camera app. It won't open!"

"That's impossible, let me see." Ryuji handed Raoul the phone. Raoul tapped on the camera app several times, the app wouldn't open. "That's impossible." Raoul then pulled his own phone out and began tapping on the camera app, the same result.

"Dammit." Ryuji then pressed his face to the bars, "I'll just have to memorize their faces."

"Make sure you hurry." said Morgana, "I don't want to be here when they find us."

"All right, next cage." The group walked over the next cage, there they saw three students running as fast as they could on a treadmill, but this treadmill was different as it had rotating spikes at the end that threatened to slice them up. At the other end, there was a bucket of water. It was truly a grisly sight. Raoul could hear Ryuji cursing under his breath. The final cage was perhaps the worst, it held a student tied upside down dangling about twenty feet from the ground. Every few seconds, a volleyball would shoot out of a cannon and slam into the student's upper body at incredible speeds. This was no longer tough training or anything of the sort, Raoul had experience with tough training, this was abuse, "Got them all, I think we'll be able to get them to talk."

"Then let's get out of here." said Morgana. Just then, several guards burst into the chamber.

"Freeze!" yelled one of them.

"Crap!" exclaimed Raoul. The group turned around to see another group of guards burst in from the far door, "They must've figured something was wrong when the guy we took out didn't check in."

"That, and we were here for too long." whispered Morgana.

"Play along." said Raoul and the other just looked at him as he raised his hands, "We'll break out when we get the chance." The others then nodded and also raised their hands in surrender. Without much fanfare, the guards herded the group back up their original path, heading back to the main hall. Once they got there, the three were lined up before being knocked off balance and onto their knees.

"Well, well, well." said a familiar voice. Raoul looked up to see Kamoshida and several gray guards and one golden guard. The other guards who knocked Raoul and the group down went over to join their companions.

"Kamoshida…" seethed Ryuji. "Back again in that ridiculous getup?"

"Hmph, and you're back again thieves." Raoul stared hard at Kamoshida and noticed something weird, Kamoshida had yellow eyes.

"Hey, Ryuji? Kamoshida never had yellow eyes, did he?" asked Raoul, Ryuji seemed to be confused, but then it clicked.

"No, he didn't."

"That's because it's not the real Kamoshida, it's just his shadow." whispered Morgana.

"What're you thieves whispering about hmm? No matter, to think you've made the same mistake of standing up to me again, you're hopeless!"

"Shut up! This school ain't your castle! I've memorized the people who are down there!" Ryuji pointed back to where they came from, "You're going down for good!" Kamoshida only laughed.

"It seems that it's true when they say that barking dogs seldom bite. My, how far the star of the track team has fallen." Ryuji froze.

"Ryuji, what's he saying?" asked Raoul, Kamoshida's smile grew wider and much more twisted.

"I, of course, speak of the "Track Traitor" who acted in violence, ending all of his teammates dreams. Oh, I can only imagine the pain of the others who were dragged under with your...selfish act."

"Ryuji? What is he talking about?" Raoul asked again, Ryuji remained silent.

"Quite frankly, I'm surprised that you would accompany him without knowing anything at all. He betrayed his teammates and crushed their dreams and yet, he still carries on as carefree as ever."

"Shut up." hissed Ryuji quietly.

"And you." said Kamoshida, turning to Raoul, "You've come along with this fool and now you're going to end up dead, how unfortunate of you." He then turned to the golden guard, "Kill them all, don't sully my castle with garbage." The golden guard pointed its sword at the group.

"Ryuji, get back!" yelled Morgana. The grey guards moved forwards and burst open in a fountain of red and black and two demonic rams and several pixies appeared between them and the golden guard. Raoul ripped off his mask and Arsene appeared behind him, Zorro appeared behind Morgana. Both summoned their melee weapons and prepared for battle. One of the rams charged Raoul while the other charged Morgana. Morgana jumped over it and slashed with incredible agility. Raoul meanwhile, raised his arm and took the blow head on. Thanks to Arsene, he avoided getting blown away but the force did send him skidding back, the pain flew through his arm like a torrent.

"Now!" he yelled, Arsene reached underneath the ram and Raoul flipped his knife around and brought it down on the ram's side. It screeched in pain as the knife tore through and Arsene let out a powerful blast, sending it flying into the sky. The ram slammed into the ground with a powerful thud. Just as Raoul began towards the ram, several small blasts of flame began slamming into him. He and Arsene raised their arms in defense as the flames continued to sear at him. It was incredibly hot but didn't hurt as much, it hurt like if someone hit him with a rubber band. Raoul grabbed his knife and threw it at one of the pixies who dodged it, barely. A bleat sounded to his right and Raoul felt a cold chill run down his spine. Without thinking, he jumped backward; just in time too, as the demonic ram charged past him. But then, the ram stopped and kicked with its hind legs. The sudden attack caught Raoul off guard, so the lack of proper footing sent him flying in the air. The force was like nothing he ever felt like someone broke his arms, but thankfully he didn't hear any snapping. Raoul slammed onto the ground and he lost consciousness for a second, he must've been thrown several meters in the air. He slowly got up, only to be slammed in the back, sending him sprawling forwards, as he did, he managed to catch a glimpse of the second ram standing triumphantly behind him. He rolled to a stop next to Morgana, who also seemed to have been bested. His vision had black edges around it as the pain raced through his body.

"This is bad." Morgana groaned, "There's too many for us." All of a sudden, a foot came down on Morgana, "-argh! You piece of sh-"

"Silence." sneered Shadow Kamoshida. Raoul also tried to stand up, only for an armored foot come down on his own back, the golden guard stood above him, his sword pointed at Raoul's throat. "Well Sakamoto." said the Shadow as he turned to Ryuji, his foot still firmly planted on Morgana's back, "I'll bet you decided to come here on a whim and it all ended up like this, huh?"

"No..." said Ryuji, his demeanor crumbling. Kamoshida continued mockingly.

"What an emotional piece of trash, getting so emotional so quickly."

"Fuck...you..." said Raoul. The foot pressed harder against his back.

"Silence." growled the guard.

"How dare you raise your hand against me." continued Kamoshida, not even reacting to Raoul's insult. "Though it may have been temporary, have you forgotten about my kindness in supervising the track practice?" Ryuji collapsed completely, almost on the verge of tears.

"That was no practice, that was physical abuse! You just didn't like our team!"

"It was nothing but an eyesore!" sneered Kamoshida, "I'm the ONLY one that needs to achieve results here!" a horrible grin spread across his face, "That coach who got fired was hopeless as well. Had he not opposed me with sound argument, I would've only settled with breaking his star's leg." Ryuji froze, his eyes widened.

"What?" Shadow Kamoshida continued, his sneer and horrible smile still plastered on his face.

"Do you need me to deal with the other leg as well? The school will just call it self defense anyways!" He then let out a horrible laugh. Ryuji's gaze dropped and his eyes seemed to glass over.

"Dammit...am I just going to lose again? Not only can I not run anymore, but the track team's also gone because of this asshole!"

Kamoshida then began to press his foot into Morgana, who closed his eyes in pain. "Once I've dealt with these two, you're next." He then let out another horrible laugh that echoed throughout the chamber.

"Ryuji!" yelled Morgana, no response.

"Are you just going to roll over!?" roared Raoul, Ryuji twitched, he had a line, "You said you were going to take him down.." the foot on his back pressed even more, but he couldn't let it stop him, "Don't go back on your word! Don't let him win! You're stronger than him! You survived till now, don't let this bastard take anything else away!"

"You're right…" responded Ryuji, "Everything that was important to me was taken by him...and I'll never get it back!" His fists balled up.

"Stay there and watch trash." sneered Kamoshida, "Look on as these two die for nothing because they sided with a lowly piece of shit like you." Ryuji slowly stood up and Raoul could see it in his eyes, a fire burned strongly.

"No…." he growled, "That's what you are! All you think about is using people...You're the real shitbag here Kamoshida!" Ryuji then began to definitely walk towards Kamoshida, no fear in his eyes, only hate.

"What're you doing Captain!" screeched Shadow Kamoshida at the golden guard, "Silence him!"

"Stop looking down on people with that stupid smile on your face!" yelled Ryuji, Raoul looked at Kamoshida to see that a horrible smile was plastered on his face. Raoul looked back at Ryuji only notice that his dark brown eyes turned gold.

* * *

"You made me wait quite a while." said a deep voice. Ryuji looked around only to have an enormous pain shot through his head. He gripped his head as the pain grew more intense and collapsed on his knees, unable to focus on anything except for the voice, which rang clear in his mind. "You seek power, correct? Then let us form a pact. Since your name has already been disgraced, why not hoist the flag and wreak havoc? The "other you" who exists within desires it thus.." Ryuji rolled around on the carpet, the pain nearly unbearable, but the voice continued unaffected. "I am thou...thou art I...There is no turning back...The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!" Ryuji let out a primal roar as blue flames flared around his face and a skull mask appeared.

"Hmph. You have a mask, what can you do?" huffed the shadow captain. It then raised its blade and prepared to strike at Raoul, "Cower in fear and watch!" it proclaimed. Ryuji thought back to what Raoul did in the cell, to what Morgana and Raoul did in the hallway. He couldn't let Raoul or anyone die. Ryuji grabbed his mask and began to pull, the pain was nearly as unbearable as the pain that preceded it. But he didn't stop, he couldn't afford to stop. With a mighty pull and roar, he managed to rip the mask from his face, blood following in its wake. Strangely enough, as soon as the mask left his face, the pain subsided. A pillar of blue flame erupted from underneath him and generated such a powerful blast of wind that it forced Kamoshida and the Shadow Captain off of Ryuji's companions. As the flames calmed, a new sight threw everyone off guard. There was a new figure behind Ryuji, as big as Arsene and Zorro, a Persona. This Persona was a combination of two figures, a ship, and a giant pirate. The ship portion was jet black with a small golden angel as the bowsprit, on the bow was a painted, jagged teeth, cartoon style smile. The eye that was painted above that on the port side was also in the cartoon style with black pupils and a yellow and red iris. The most striking thing was that there were no masts on the ship, instead, the other half of the Persona stood on the ship, riding it like a skateboard.

The giant pirate had a demonic aspect to it, with its left hand being a demonic claw. Its right hand didn't have a hand, it was instead a yellow cannon that billowed an unending stream of smoke like it had just been fired. The pirate wore a light blue buccaneer jacket with silver armor plating on the exterior parts of the shoulder and black buccaneer pants with big, rolled down buccaneer boots; like Arsene, the limbs on this pirate were somewhat Jack Skeleton like in appearance. On top of the buccaneer jacket, there was a black sleeveless overcoat with a deep red coat inside that split at the mid back and flowed out a long distance behind the pirate, as if there were gusts of wind blowing it back; the coat itself was tattered at the end with visible rips and tears. Fastened loosely around the chest were two belts that had two cutlasses strapped to it; these cutlasses crossed the pirate's chest with the points coming up to the ear position, the blades were black with silver jagged edge and fastened to the guards of each cutlass were two identical anchor chains which hung loosely on the guards. The pirate's face was not really a face, it was a pale white skull with a black eye patch over its right eye that had a skull embroidered on it. The left eye was similar to the eye painted on the ship, it had a red and yellow iris and a black pupil. Around the neck of the pirate was a steel collar with evenly spaced studs. Finally, the hat of the pirate was a black tricorn hat with gold outlines with a skull with an eyepatch embroidered above the forehead and two cutlasses resting underneath. Blue flames and black chains seemed to flicker around Ryuji and the Persona.

Ryuji himself was now dressed in a new outfit. He wore a black biker leather jacket with matching black pants with silver knee pads. He also wore a red ascot, combat boots, yellow gloves with metal knuckles. Ryuji looked at his new outfit and a smile spread across his face.

"Right on…..Wassup, Persona….This fuckin' rocks!" Raoul and Morgana took the opportunity of their distracted enemies to dash their aching bodies over to where Ryuji and his Persona stood. "Now that I got this power." he said, still smiling, "It's payback time!" He then looked at his companions, "Yo, I'm ready…...Bring it ya hunk of metal!" The shadow captain stood up and got in front of Kamoshida.

"Don't mock me you brat!" it growled before exploding in a fountain of black and red liquid. When it cleared, there stood red armored knight with demon horns, a fur cape, and an enormous spear riding on a black demonic horse with a white man and green eyes. It lowered the spear and prepared to charge the three intruders, but Ryuji was faster on the quick draw.

"Blow him away Captain Kidd!" a yellow bolt of lightning shot out of the cannon arm of Captain Kidd and began to race towards the demon captain. The captain tried to bring his arm up but he was too slow, the bolt struck him in the chest, blowing him back several feet.

"Argh! You brat! I'm going to skewer you boy!" the captain then lowered his lance and charged the three.

"Kidd!" yelled Ryuji. Captain Kidd lowered himself and the loud bang rang out as the horse ran into the ship. The captain attempted to pierce Kidd with its lance but Kidd raised his cannon arm and deflected the lance. Ryuji ran around his Persona and with a flash of blue flame, a blunt iron pipe appeared in his hands. Ryuji lept high into the air and with a loud bang, struck the captain across the face, though it didn't seem to do much. It scoffed as it rubbed the dent that was made in the helmet.

"What troublemakers are you that bother King Kamoshida with trifling matters!" Ryuji gritted his teeth as he stood up.

"Kamoshida's ain't changin' at all right? Then I'll just act like the trouble maker I am!"

"Morgana!" said Raoul as Arsene appeared behind him, "What happens if we lose our weapons?"

"Try summoning it again." said Morgana as his cutlass appeared in his paws again, "It will always come back to you." Raoul reached and pulled again, a flash happened and his blade was back in his hand.

"Sweet." he murmured. The three of them turned to face the captain again. It once again lowered its lance and prepared to charge. Quickly, Raoul had Arsene blast him with black and red energy. It caught him by surprise, forcing the captain back. Morgana took this advanced and cut the lance in two before having Zorro strike at the cast a weird spell over the three intruders. Raoul felt all his bruises heal and all the pain faded away, a healing spell it seemed. Ryuji took advantage of the captain's distraction to once again strike him with lightning but the captain saw him and jumped with the horse, the lightning sailing past him harmlessly.

"Same trick won't work twice." he said. A flash of black energy occurred and his lance reappeared, completely intact. He then charged Ryuji and swung at him with the flat end of the lance blade, hitting Ryuji square in the chest and sending him into a pillar, Kidd vanishing as he slid to the floor.

"Ryuji!" yelled Raoul, his friend cracked a smile and he slowly got up.

"I'm good man!"

"Raoul, focus!" yelled Morgana. Raoul nodded and looked back in time to see the captain charging at him with the lance. Raoul waited and at the last second, he jumped to the left and the spear whizzed by him harmlessly. Raoul and Arsene ran up to him and Raoul jumped, slashing the horse in the neck. The horse reared back, giving Arsene the opportunity to deliver a powerful left hook, that was covered in his black and red energy, into the captain's right shoulder. Morgana then followed up by having Zorro create small cyclone that lifted the demon into the air.

"Ryuji! Go for it!" yelled Raoul.

"Captain Kidd!" The Persona appeared and rammed the demon captain at full speed, knocking it to the floor. The three then fired everything they had on the downed captain, creating a massive explosion. When it finally dissipated, the captain was gone, completely obliterated. The three nearly collapsed in exhaustion, the fight took a lot out of them. "Well," panted Ryuji, "I guess this proves Kamoshida's nothing special."

"How?" asked Raoul.

"His lackeys can't beat us, so that means we can beat him." Ryuji then turned to look at Shadow Kamoshida, his face twisted in rage, "Well how 'bout that!? Even if you apologize now, I'll still won't forgive you, EVER!" Kamoshida took a deep breath, calming himself as the condescending demeanor returned.

"I told you that this is my castle. It seems that you still don't understand that." Kamoshida's attention then shifted to a new presence and the three followed his gaze to see a very familiar blonde in a pink skimpy bikini, pink high heels, and pink cat ears walked up to Kamoshida and grabbed his shoulders and rested her head on them, she then began to seductively rub herself on his shoulder.

"Takamaki!?" asked both high schoolers in shock this very sight, made their stomachs churn.

"Wha-What a meow-velous and beautiful girl!" exclaimed Morgana, and when the boys gave him a look, he immediately brought himself back to the matter at hand, "Sorry."

"The hell is going on?" asked Ryuji as the scene unfolded before them.

"Wait, something seems off." responded Raoul. Kamoshida then began touching Ann's face, studying it closely.

"Hey! Get your hands off her, you perv!" growled Ryuji to which Kamoshida only responded with mild disinterest in him.

"How many times must I tell you till you understand? This is MY castle. A place I can do anything I want. Where everyone wished to be loved by me." His then twisted in annoyance as he growled, "That is..except slow-witted thieves like you!"

"Takamaki! Say somethin' at least!" begged Ryuji, hoping to get something out of her.

"Calm down Ryuji." said Morgana as he shifted himself so that he stood between the two high schoolers. "That's not the real girl, its a fake created by Kamoshida." Relief seemed to flow into Ryuji's eyes as he calmed down slightly. Regardless, the scene made them want to puke their lunch out.

"Jealous?" asked Kamoshida mockingly. The rage quickly came back into the three of them. "I'm not surprised. Women aren't drawn to problematic punks like you."

"Dammit!" seethed Ryuji through clenched teeth.

"Clean them up this instant!" yelled Kamoshida as he snapped his fingers. Next thing the guys knew, several more gray guards appeared and began closing in on them.

"There are too many of them!" said Raoul.

"Let's retreat for now!" said Morgana.

"We're just gonna run and not do anything!?" asked Ryuji in horror. Raoul then grabbed his shoulder firmly.

"Just shut up and run!" The three then turned and ran out the front door and didn't stop until the world began to bend again and they crossed back into their reality. As they escaped, they heard one last taunt.

"Come at me whenever you want! If you don't care about your life!" A horrible laugh rang out as the world finished bending.

* * *

Raoul and Ryuji panted like crazy once they were back in the alley.

"Holy crap that's terrifyin'." wheezed Ryuji.

"Agreed." gasped Raoul. The two looked around, there were barely any students around but the school gate was still open, but there was bad luck coming as Kawakami started walking down the stairs, "Let's get out of here." said Raoul as he dragged Ryuji down the alley and around the corner. Once he thought there out of sight, he checked his watch, it read 6:00, they were there for about three and a half hours since school let out at 3:15.

"Hey." asked Ryuji as he patted Raoul's shoulder to get his attention, "Where's Morgana?" The two looked around and down the alley, but there was no sign of the cat creature.

"Beats me." responded Raoul.

"Think he got out?" asked Ryuji.

"Yeah, I guess so, he looked like he knew what he was doing." The two then stood in silence for a minute as daily life in Tokyo wound down around them, "You want to talk about the elephant in the room?" asked Raoul.

"What the hell did we see?" asked Ryuji.

"Probably how Kamoshida sees Ms. Takamaki." gagged Raoul.

"But she wouldn't do that!" said Ryuji, still in shock about what they saw in the castle. Raoul shrugged.

"I don't know her that well, but I pray she's not like that and that it is only Kamoshida's fantasy."

"Me too." sighed Ryuji.

"By the way, what're we going to do about the players?" asked Raoul, remembering their original mission before the aforementioned fiasco played out.

"We'll talk to 'em soon, I'm completely beat." sighed Ryuji, Raoul nodded in agreement. "Wait, before we go, we should exchange each other's number so we can keep in touch." Raoul pulled out his phone and the two spent a few minutes exchanging contacts. They then bid each other a good night and went home. Raoul walked into Leblanc and quietly went upstairs, he wasn't as tired as the night before but still tired. He then went through his workout routine that seemed more difficult than usual that day. After he finished, he came down to get some water out of the fridge.

"Hey, I want you to keep good personal hygiene." said Sojiro as he polished off a glass, the cafe was empty so it was probably close to closing time.

"Do I smell bad?" asked Raoul.

"You will soon if you keep using the sink for your showers. There's a public bath just across the street from here." he then pulled out a 2,000 yen bill and placed it on the counter, "It costs 2,000 yen to go there so here." Raoul walked up and was about to grab it before Sojiro pulled it back a bit, "This is probably the only allowance you'll get from me, so only use it for the bath."

"I understand." Raoul took the bill back up, packed a small bag and went to the bathhouse. It was the most pleasant thing he ever felt and after twenty minutes there, he headed back. Once back, he closed up shop and proceeded to do his homework before passing out on his bed, exhausted.

* * *

"A castle, Shadows, Personas, and a talking cat?" said the Interrogator crossing their arms, "Are you hallucinating from an overdose? I won't put up with you if you're simply joking around."

"I'm...not...joking...I bet...my life on it." said Raoul through the headaches, which were steadily becoming worse. His interrogator looked at their watch for a moment before turning back to Raoul.

"Regardless, I'm going to have you continue the story, we don't have much time. The one to receive the "calling card" from the Phantom Thieves was an Olympic medalist." they then pulled out two cards. A red one and a photograph of a man with gym clothes and curly hair. The red card had a crude drawing of a top hat with a mask that resembled Raoul's, underneath was an inscription: Take Your Heart! "The target was an alumnus from Shujin Academy- The Physical Education teacher, Suguru Kamoshida. It's true that he committed deplorable crimes while in that position from indulging in his….desires. Regardless, he confessed to it all. But there should have been no connection between the two of you since you had just transferred by that time. Why did you target him?"

"I'll tell you later." said Raoul. The interrogator leapt up and slammed their hands on the desk in anger.

"That's unacceptable! I need you to tell me now!"

"Wait." said Raoul, weakly holding his hand up, "The reason we targeted him comes later because the cause happened later." That seemed to satisfy the interrogator as they sat back down.

"All right, continue."


	7. Chapter 5: Castle Infiltration Part 2

Raoul's alarm blared loud and true the next morning as he got out of bed and prepared for the day's challenges. He quietly ate breakfast and made his way to school, in class he nearly fell asleep a few times, whatever they did in that castle was way more taxing than it seemed, regardless, he managed to make it through the day even though he was running on caffeine by the end. As he headed home, he stopped when he saw Kamoshida, he froze and pressed himself against the wall, hoping to not be seen. Kamoshida walked over to Takamaki, who was just ahead of Raoul by about ten feet.

"Hey there, Takamaki." Kamoshida had a big smile on his face, it pissed Raoul off as he now knew full well who Kamoshida truly is, "You looking for a ride home? It's been dangerous lately with all those accidents occurring." Takamaki smiled weakly, her eyes downcast.

"Sorry, I have a photoshoot today. It's for the special summer issue, so I can't afford to miss it."

"Hey, being a model's fine and all." sighed Kamoshida, "But don't work your pretty little self to the bone. By the way, you mentioned not feeling well right? Something about appendicitis?" Takamaki simply shook her head.

"I've been planning on going to the hospital but I've been too busy to do so, sorry to worry you though."

"You must feel lonely too." Kamoshida began to close the gap between him and the girl slightly, "I feel bad for keeping your best friend at practice so often. That's why I asked you out in the first place. Oh and by the way, be careful of that transfer student. He's got a criminal record after all and if something were to happen to you." Raoul wanted to puke, this scene was repulsive it wasn't even funny, and it was happening in public, how has nobody said something?

"Thank you. Please excuse me" said Takamaki solemnly as she walked away at a brisk pace.

'Perhaps she's not into this as Kamoshida dreams. That's good, but it's still gross.' thought Raoul as Takamaki turned the corner. He looked to see Kamoshida's face twist and his fists ball up before storming up the stairs, with Raoul in hot pursuit. At the third floor, Kamoshida turned and headed towards another building located adjacent to the school building. According to the school map that Raoul was given, that was the athletics building. Kamoshida disappeared behind the glass doors leading to it and Raoul decided to not pursue any further as that would be suicide, it may be possible that Kamoshida does know what happened in the castle. As he turned to go down the stairs, he saw, out of the corner of his eye, the beautiful girl he saw the day before. She was standing with a bunch of older students, most likely third years. Raoul had thought about introducing himself but felt that was a bad idea due to his reputation so he turned and headed up the stairs towards the roof. Upon arriving, he was relieved to see Ryuji sitting on the desk, looking out over the courtyard of the school.

"Hey." said Raoul as he approached Ryuji.

"Hey." responded his friend.

"Have you been avoiding Kamoshida?" asked Raoul.

"You mean more than usual? Yeah, why?"

"I don't know, probably cause he might know about the castle and what goes on there?" Ryuji shrugged, "Regardless," Raoul continued, "we should probably keep our heads low…..for now."

"Until we have a chance to strike!" said Ryuji, pumping his fist. Raoul smiled and the two of them decided to head home for now, as they walked down, Ryuji continued their conversation, "So, what did you think of my outfit back there?"

"I thought it looked cool, it fits you."

"Thanks, though your magician looking one still looks cooler, I think." Raoul shrugged, "Still," continued Ryuji, "Want to continue going into the castle?"

"I mean." sighed Raoul, "It might be the only way to get evidence for his crimes." They made their way to a small corner that had vending machines. "Though I am worried about whether or not Kamoshida knows about what happens in the castle."

"It's impossible for him to know what goes on in the Palace, it's in a separate dimension." said a new voice. "So on that front, you have nothing to worry about." a black cat jumped onto the table between them, shocking both boys.

"Dude, you hear that right?" asked Ryuji.

"You mean this talking cat? You bet." responded a slack-jawed Raoul.

"Jeez, you only saw me yesterday and now you completely forgot my voice?" asked the cat as he sat down and began licking his paws.

"That voice...Morgana!?" asked Ryuji, his turn to be slack-jawed.

"That's right! The one! The only! Morgana!" said the cat as he continued to lick his paws.

"Yep, that's Morgana alright." said Raoul with a smile, "how'd you get here? I mean, how'd you get into the school?"

"Well, that's a long story. When I came out, I was just in the middle of the city without you guys, so I didn't do anything the first night. The next morning, however, I saw a couple of girls walking around that had the same school uniform that Ryuji had on him in the castle so I decided to follow them until I came to this school and then I spent the rest of the today finding you and waiting till it was the best time to approach you. Which seems to be now."

"Okay, barring the fact that you look like a cat." said Raoul.

"Which, for the record, I came out like this even though I'm 100% percent a human." interrupted Morgana.

"Whatever," continued Raoul, "what do you mean that Kamoshida doesn't know what his shadow is up to?"

"The Metaverse-which is what we call that place-is an alternate dimension that sort of acts like a second layer to ours that don't interact with each other. To be honest, I don't understand most of it myself."

"How's that?" asked Raoul, "Aren't you a native of that realm?"

"Just 'cause I'm from there doesn't mean that I know everything about it." he nearly snapped at Raoul, "Still," he continued, "I feel like I know more about that place, but there are gaps."

"Amnesia?" asked Raoul, Morgana responded with a nod. "Well, what do you-" Raoul was interrupted by the voices of a few faculty members.

"You hear that right?" asked the one on the right.

"Yes," responded to his colleague, "it sounds like a cat meowing."

"I wonder where it's coming from?" asked the first one. Raoul and Ryuji turned back to the cat that was licking his paws like nothing was wrong.

"We are the only ones who can hear you!?" asked Ryuji.

"Yep!" said Morgana proudly, "Only people who have gone to the Metaverse can hear me."

"You heard that right?" said the first staff member. The other one nodded.

"It came from over there!" he said, pointing to corner where Raoul and Ryuji had poked their heads out.

"Crap!" hissed Ryuji before he grabbed Morgana and held him to Raoul, "Take him! He can fit in your bag!"

"Hey! What's on goin-" yelled Morgana as Raoul quickly stuffed Morgana into his bag and the two of them began walking, past the staff and into the school building.

"Where now?" whispered Raoul. Ryuji looked around.

"Roof." Raoul nodded and the two boys quickly made their way upwards. Once upstairs, Raoul gently placed his bag on the ground and Morgana promptly crawled out and stretched.

"The hell was that for?" he asked, clearly ticked about being stuffed into a school bag seemingly without reason.

"Sorry about that." said Raoul, "We needed to act fast." Morgana gave him a look and then nodded, acknowledging the circumstances that led to him being Anyways, why did you go through all that trouble to come to find us?"

"You guys need to pay me back." said Morgana without a second thought.

"Pay you back?" asked a confused Ryuji, Morgana nodded.

"You guys really thought that you guys could just use me and not pay me back!?"

"We helped you escape!" Ryuji said, his voice becoming more forceful.

"No Ryuji, I think he's being reasonable." Ryuji looked at him, confusion and shock mixed, "We did help him escape but he led us to the prisoners, so the first debt was paid." Morgana and Ryuji nodded, following Raoul's logic as he continued calmly, "But then he helped us fight and escape when he could've easily run, so technically, we still owe him one debt."

"There, this guy gets it." said Morgana, jerking his head in Raoul's direction, "So, you guys owe me and to repay it, you guys are going to help me." Ryuji then sat in one of the chairs, a little ticked but Raoul could tell it was more or less a front.

"What do you need us for?" asked Ryuji, crossing his arms and kicking his feet up.

"We are going to steal Kamoshida's treasure, his twisted desires." said Morgana proudly. Raoul and Ryuji's eyes widened in surprise.

"Is..is that even possible?" Raoul managed to stutter out. Morgana nodded and then shrugged.

"That was what I was doing before I got busted and ended up in that cell."

"Have you ever pulled somethin' like that off?" asked Ryuji. Morgana looked down.

"No, I haven't so that's why I need your help." Raoul and Ryuji sat silently for about thirty seconds before something went off in Raoul's head.

"You mentioned that you wanted to steal his twisted desires, what did you mean by that?"

"People naturally have desires." said Morgana as he began to once again lick himself, "Those whose desires become warped and twisted manifest something called a Palace, which in Kamoshida's case, takes the form of a medieval castle. Palaces appear wherever the ruler feels powerful, which in Kamoshida's case, seems to be Shujin Academy." Raoul and Ryuji were drawn in, listening to every word as Morgana continued, "Somewhere in each palace, there are the physical manifestations of the ruler's twisted desires and if we steal that, we may be able to force them to reform. I think."

"You think?" asked Ryuji.

"Cut me some slack monkey! I haven't pulled a successful one yet." snapped Morgana.

"Monkey!?" said an irritated Ryuji, "Why you little-" but before he could continue, Raoul stepped in between them.

"Enough!" he then turned back to Morgana, "That does sound very interesting, but why don't we just take out his shadow?"

"Because," Morgana's demeanor turned grim, "if we kill his shadow, he may also die. About that, I'm very certain of." the color drained from the two boys' faces as they turned to each other, "You have to be willing to take that risk." concluded Morgana before jumping up onto one of the generators and onto the roof, "I'll give you guys tonight to think about it, tell me tomorrow." He then disappeared, leaving Raoul and Ryuji standing there, contemplating. Unknown to both of them Morgana thought, 'Hope they join me, I could use them. They seem to have natural talent, especially that Raoul guy.'

"I-I want to take him down for sure." said Ryuji, his face still white, "but actually killing him? I don't know if I could do that."

"Maybe...maybe there's a way to do this non-lethally." pondered Raoul. Ryuji shook his head and headed for the door.

"I need to think about this later." he then shut the door behind him. Raoul stood there for a few more moments before following suit and heading home, the possibility of him having to kill someone to protect others was strictly utilitarian, a philosophy which he partially subscribed to, but having to put it into actual practice, well that was something different.

* * *

About a minute after Raoul and Ryuji sped back up to the roof, Ann and the bandaged girl that Raoul met took a seat on the very bench that Ryuji was sitting on, the two of them were talking about their day; however, their conversation eventually grew quiet. The girl squirmed a bit before speaking in a quiet voice that only Ann could hear.

"I-I haven't been sleeping well lately.." She sighed as she quietly rubbed some of her bandages, "Whenever I close my eyes, I keep thinking about too many things."

"Shiho.." whispered Ann quietly, worry showing loud and clear in her expression. Shiho continued, seemingly oblivious.

"Nationals are coming soon, so I keep thinking...should someone like me be on the starting lineup?" Ann smiled warmly.

"Don't worry! Just be confident in yourself! Your skills have been recognized! It's all because you worked harder than anybody else!" Shiho did not offer any response.

"Yeah…." she finally said, "Volleyball's all I have, after all.."

"More importantly." Ann gently brushed Shiho's hair back, revealing a bruise above her left eye that seemed to be mostly healed, "was that injury okay? It looked swollen." Shiho gently pushed Ann's hand away and brought her hair back down with her free hand.

"No, it's nothing. It's normal...especially when there's a meet coming up." Ann opened her mouth to say something but then decided against it. The two sat quietly for a couple of minutes before another student came up to the two of them. He, like Shiho, was also pretty beaten up and downtrodden.

"So sorry to interrupt Suzui, but Mr. Kamoshida asked me to come and get you." Shiho's eyes widened and she twitched.

"Huh?" she managed to stutter out, "What'd did he want?" The downcast student looked down.

"He..didn't say." Shiho looked down as well and didn't say anything for a good thirty seconds.

"Ann...I…" she stopped herself before continuing. Ann took a deep breath before putting a good smile on her face.

"It'll be fine! I bet it's just a meeting for the starting line up or something." Shiho turned to look at her before a sad smile crossed her lips.

"Yeah." She then stood and a pained look took hold of her face, "Well, I guess I'd better go."

"Yeah!" said Ann who also stood with her, "Good luck!" Shiho nodded then her and the other student set off down the hall slowly. As soon as they were out of earshot, Ann's face melted into a more somber one, "Hang in there Shiho."

* * *

Raoul walked into Leblanc. He wanted pass over dinner, the fact that he may have to kill someone had effectively killed his appetite, but he still forced himself to eat regardless.

"You're home." said Sojiro as he lowered his newspaper. "I take it you went to school today."

"Of course." responded Raoul, trying to put as much life as he could into his voice. Sojiro nodded, seemingly satisfied.

"As long you're not getting into trouble, I don't care what you do. While I don't know what you're currently up to, trust me, you'll be gone if you start causing problems. In case you forget, your life is not one of freedoms right now."

"I know." answered Raoul. His phone vibrated. "One moment."

**Ryuji: Hey, I decided to go ahead and message you. Are you getting this?**

**Raoul: Yeah.**

**Ryuji: We should question the players tomorrow right?**

**Raoul: That's the plan.**

**Ryuji: You're not going to chicken out on me are you?**

**Raoul: Of course not, we're partners.**

**Ryuji: Damn right! We're going save those abused players, you and me.**

"Sheesh, are you even listening to me?" asked Sojiro as Raoul put his phone back in his pocket.

"Made a friend." responded Raoul with a smile on his face.

"Okay then, just stay away from bad influences alright?" Raoul nodded and began walking towards the stairs in the back. "Hey." said Sojiro and Raoul turned around, "I'm gonna head home for the night, dinners in the fridge. I'll lock the store, don't go wandering out." Raoul nodded and then continued walking.

Once upstairs, he worked out in complete silence though he gave up for the first time three quarters in, his focus was completely elsewhere. It had dawned on him that this was nothing like the movies and books; there, it was easy to write a character who could be a cold killing machine. But this was different, this was reality, and Raoul was only 16! Killing a person was just something that any normal person wouldn't do, even if it was for a good cause; soldiers, police, and assassins were different due to training so they don't count. He decided while he sat in the bath that he would not directly kill Kamoshida, no matter what he did. Instead, he would do everything he could to steal his desires and if he died, so be it. Raoul spent several minutes stealing his resolve and his confidence in his choice. He then spent about an hour studied, though he couldn't concentrate on it either. Finally, he closed his book out of frustration and decided to go to sleep. But, when he lay down, his phone vibrated, jolting him back awake. He reached and through bleary eyes, saw that it was Ryuji who texted him.

**Ryuji: Hey man, you awake?**

**Raoul: Yeah barely, what's up?**

**Ryuji: So, I was thinking about what Morgana said to us. About possibly killing Kamoshida.**

**Raoul: I've been thinking about it as well. I want to take him down but killing him? I don't think I could do that, even if he is an asshole.**

**Ryuji: Same, actually taking a life? I don't think I could do that! I mean, I want to take him down, there's no way I'm backing out after I saw his distorted heart thingy!**

**Raoul: I agree. So, are we in agreement that we're going the non-lethal route?**

**Ryuji: Yep! Make sure you tell Morgana!**

**Raoul: I will. When I see him.**

**Ryuji: Btw, we should get to know each other more if we're working together. You doin' anything tomorrow?**

**Raoul: No, why?  
Ryuji: Down for some ramen?**

**Raoul: Sure, why not?**

Raoul then placed his phone down and closed his eyes, within a few minutes, he had fallen asleep. As he drifted into a deep sleep, he could feel a bond of trust beginning to form between himself and Ryuji.

* * *

Raoul shook off the effects that the drugs had on his body and mind. If he didn't move at least a little bit and got his blood circulating, then the drugs would hit him like a truck hitting a wall at top speed and he would be rendered practically useless. The fog around his brain cleared a bit as his interrogator sat quietly in their seat, digesting what he has said so far.

"Are you sure that we'll be getting to the important stuff soon? You know that we don't have a lot of time." They said curtly, Raoul nodded. "Okay, but there is something that I want to know. Acting as a Phantom Thief, you would've been more efficient if you had gone at it alone. In fact, most would've gone alone, at least in my opinion. You, however, did not. You built a team because you believed that the merits of having more people outweighed the dangers. That's about as Hollywood as it gets, am I wrong?"

* * *

Raoul's eyes opened to the now familiar blue ceiling of the Velvet Room. Standing up, he could see the three permanent residents of the room waiting, just outside his cell.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." said Igor, his trademark grin clearly visible. "I thought about continuing our conversation from before tonight. That is why I summoned you."

"I was wondering when I would meet you again." said Raoul politely to which the strange man nodded.

"I would like to ask you for your thoughts about this place. Are you becoming accustomed to it?" Raoul thought about it for a moment.

"I'd say yes. Though I am still trying to wrap my mind around the concept of a place that exists in a sort of Limbo existing. But it has become easier, due to my experiences in the Metaverse opening the door to a myriad of possibilities about other worlds other than my own." Igor's permanent grin widened a bit.

"I see, well I'm glad to hear that. You seem to have nerves of steel. I believe most humans would panic at the notion that something I like this exists."

"Let's just say that I have an open mind." responded Raoul with a slight chuckle.

"Then, let us move on to more pressing matters." Igor then leaned forwards, indicating the seriousness of the topic though his actual pose did not change in the slightest. "Your rehabilitation determines if ruin can be stopped. Yet, such a feat can not be done alone. As such, it would be in your best interests to recruit allies as you progress as a thief. And as of a few days ago, you managed to recruit one who has awakened to the same power as you haven't you?" Raoul nodded. "Involving yourself with others is an important foundation for your recovery. You've done well. That said, I'm not advocating for the formation of superficial relationships. It must not be of a ring of frivolity, but a ring of those, by their morals or faith, lend you your strength. In other words, they are those who have been robbed to their places to belong. The expansion of said ring will, in turn, help you to mature as well."

"Personas are the strength of the heart." said Justine as she turned towards Raoul, "The stronger the bonds around you are, the more power your Personas will gain."

"There are countless people in the city that have talents that a weakling like you doesn't." huffed Caroline.

"Thanks." grumbled Raoul.

"You better rack that noggin of yours and get them on your side. We'll be in charge of changing that into power." continued Caroline.

"What should I call these allies?" asked Raoul. Igor looked down in thought before refocusing his gaze on Raoul.

"Confidants."

"I like the sound of that." grinned Raoul.

"Indeed, you should also be prepared to use even myself, or your ambitions will not come to fruition." Raoul smiled again.

"Understood." Igor let out a chuckle.

"We have a deal then." Raoul felt the beginnings of a mutual relationship between the two. "There's something I'd like to give you." Igor raised a finger and a beam shot out of it and struck Raoul in the eyes. Raoul dropped to the ground holding his face, his eyesight blurred for a few moments before returning to normal.

"What'd you do!?" he groaned as he stood back up.

"I gave you a gift that will aid you in your rehabilitation. You will understand all that it can do in due time. For now, continue devoting yourself to your rehabilitation." the prison bell then began ringing again.

"This conversation's over, get lost, inmate!" Raoul's vision then began to blacken as he slipped back into unconsciousness.


	8. Chapter 6: Castle Infiltration Part 3

The sun rose on Thursday, April 14th as Raoul quietly got to school. On the way, he heard several students complaining about a volleyball rally. Raoul had heard Ms. Kawakami talk about it but there has been so much other things going on that he didn't care for it. He did, however, catch that due to some scheduling issues, it had to be pushed back a day. They were also complaining about the fact that the students are pitted against the teacher's team and that Kamoshida was going to crush them, along with praise for him. They were completely unaware of Kamoshida's unacceptable behavior, it was very sad. But then, one of the students said something that caught Raoul's attention.

"Just look at how banged up the volleyball team is. What the hell goes on in their practices?" Finally! Something that may help them prove that Kamoshida does abuse his students.

Once in homeroom, Kawakami told them to head to the gymnasium once they have finished changing. As the others were changing, Kawakami gave Raoul a bag. She said that it contained his gym clothes and apologized for not getting it to him earlier. The apology was given half-heartedly, indicating that she wasn't really sorry.

As Raoul changed in the locker room, many of the students kept their distance, not wanting to get close to him for any reason. Raoul didn't mind it but decided to change fast and get out of there as soon as possible. He didn't mind people seeing his physique every now and then but in a place where that could lead to more rumors, it was not ideal. The uniform was surprisingly comfortable, red track jacket and sweatpants, with a white chevron pattern on the sleeves; Raoul also wore his white undershirt because he didn't know what the regulation shirt was, but decided to zip up the jacket halfway just in case. On his way to the gym, he ran into Ryuji and the two made their way to the gym. They decided that since classes were canceled for the afternoon, that's when they'd go around and ask the members of the team, hoping that one of them will give up their boss.

The whole event seemed to only take place because Kamoshida wanted to soothe his ego, but the crowd cheered for him wildly, especially the girls. The event went on all day, going up the grades. Raoul was a bit nervous when it was his class's turn, not because he was afraid of Kamoshida but because he didn't know the first thing about volleyball. Suffice to say, the match did not go so well. Kamoshida took every chance he could to spike Raoul, who matched it each time by covering his face, though he did not go down like the others, which caused Kamoshida to twitch in well-concealed rage. It seemed that even though he was unaware of what goes on in the Palace, Kamoshida's shadow influenced the real one with some serious passive-aggressiveness.

However, despite the one-sided beating, Raoul's group did better than most classes. Ryuji's class of 2-E was up next and he received nearly identical treatment to Raoul. After that match was done, it was the Volleyball team's turn. Raoul and Ryuji sat off to the side to watch the match, which turned out to be just as one-sided as their own. The two friends sat in silence, rubbing their sore forearms as Kamoshida once again spiked one of the players, knocking him to the ground as the teacher applauded and congratulated Kamoshida. Raoul recognized him as Mishima, one of his classmates. Raoul learned about five of his classmates' names just by listening quietly to their conversation while he read his book during lunch. Mishima stood just as the teachers were getting back into position, the rest of the team got into position as well but Raoul observed that they were only going through the motions and was not trying, they seemed to know the outcome.

"Still sticks out like a sore thumb...she hasn't changed a bit." said Ryuji suddenly, drawing Raoul's concentration back to his friend.

"Who?" he asked.  
"Takamaki," responded Ryuji, gesturing with his head towards the blond girl as she twirled one of her ponytails around her finger. He then let out a long yawn and stretched, "This is pretty boring, right?" Raoul shrugged.

"Kinda, there's nothing much to do." Raoul then looked back at Takamaki, who was sitting sphinx-like in her chair. Then, a cheer rang out in the gym, drawing Raoul's attention back to the game. Just in time too, as Kamoshida jumped into the air and delivered a powerful spike, straight into Mishima's face, hitting him with enough force send him into the air. There was an audible gasp from the crowd. Mishima didn't move, he only seemed to twitch, indicating that he was conscious. Kamoshida looked for a moment, before ducking underneath the net and jogged over to Mishima yelling sorry for everyone to hear and helped the boy up.

"Hey, are you alright!?" he asked, Mishima simply groaned as consciousness returned. "Someone! Take him to the nurse's office!" Kamoshida then hoisted the boy up to allow another student to loop his arms under Mishima's armpits before another student joined him and the two carried him away. While most would have seen this as only an accident, Ryuji and Raoul knew better.

"He'll pay soon enough" growled Ryuji as he picked up the ball and passive-aggressively threw it back to Kamoshida who gave them a dirty look before putting his mask back on and smiled at the rest of the players.

"All right! Let's resume the match!" Kamoshida tossed the ball to one of the team members before heading back to his side. Ryuji and Raoul then got up and made their way out of the gym towards the corner where they'd encountered Morgana. The second they were certain that no one could hear them, Ryuji wheeled around, anger on his face and venom in his voice.

"Bastard, he's acting like a king over here too. Getting to know each other my ass, this is just a one-man show for him to stroke his ego." Raoul said nothing, "And how he acted worried about Mishima? What an abusive douchebag!" Raoul quickly glanced behind him and decided to stop Ryuji before launched into a loud rant against Kamoshida.

"Focus man! Don't lose your temper, we'll get him." Ryuji took a deep breath and steadied himself.

"Alright, what about that cat? You seen him." he asked. Raoul shook his head. "Well, anyways.." sighed Ryuji, "Now's our chance to talk to the guys we saw in the castle the other day."

"All the members are here and they should be finished soon." said Raoul, "That means finding our guys will be easier."

"I'll be sure to find someone that'll spill the beans on Kamoshida's abuse. Just you wait asshole."

"Alright, who're we looking for?" asked Raoul.

"The first person that stands out is a guy from Class D, so let's start there. He's in your class so you would know about him." The two friends headed off to find this student. As expected, they found him in Class 2-D, trying his best to be invisible. Their conversation went as expected, no matter how much the two boys tried to coax the boy into giving solid proof of Kamoshida's abuse (which Raoul secretly tried to record), he wouldn't budge, even when they pointed out his bruises which seemed to be blue almost black. The next player was a student from Class 3-E, same result. The same was for the students for Classes 2-A, 1-C, 1-E, and 3-A. All of them refused to sell out Kamoshida; it got to the point where Raoul had to force Ryuji to stop searching out others as by now they had been at this for three hours and the team was most likely on to them, which would blow the whole operation. "Damn it!" said Ryuji as he slammed his fist against one of the vending machines in the corner where he and Raoul spent time. "We got nothing!" Raoul said nothing. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom." About a few minutes after Ryuji left, an unexpected voice called out to Raoul.

"Collins?" Raoul turned to see Takamaki walking up to him, still dressed in her gym clothes, "Can I talk to you for a second?" Raoul swallowed, he still didn't know her true allegiance so he had to tread carefully.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I'll be quick. What's up with you? Like, how you were late to school the other day was a complete lie and all that. Then there's that weird rumor about you too."

"Whaddya want with him?" said Ryuji as he approached the two. Takamaki spun around to face him.

"Right back at you. You're not even in the same class."

"We just happen to know each other." retorted Ryuji quickly, caught off guard by her retort. Takamaki nodded then crossed her arms.

"Then what're you planning to do to Mr. Kamoshida?" Raoul and Ryuji's eyes widened.

"I see…..I gotcha…" growled Ryuji. "You're all buddy-buddy with Kamoshida for real."

"This has nothing to do with you, Sakamoto!" she nearly yelled. Ryuji however, was not fazed this time.

"If you knew what he was doing behind your back, you'd dump him immediately." it was Takamaki's turn to be completely taken aback.

"Behind my back? What's that supposed to mean…?" Ryuji glanced over at Raoul who shook his head.

"You wouldn't get it…." he finally said after brief consideration. Takamaki regained her composure and went back on the offensive.

"Anyways, people're already talking about you two. I don't know what you're trying to pull, but no one is going to help you." Her expression then softened, "I'm warning you, just in case. That's all." she then pushed past Ryuji and stormed off. After she was gone, Ryuji looked at Raoul.

"Why's she gotta be so aggressive all the time? Why didn't you let me tell her?" he asked.

"If we did, she'd think we're bat shit crazy." responded Raoul.

"You did the right thing guys." said a new voice. Raoul and Ryuji looked around but found no one, then a black cat jumped onto the table.

"Morgana?" asked Raoul. Morgana nodded.

"So, have you guys made up your mind?" asked the cat.

"Yeah." said both boys.

"But we decided to take the non-lethal route." said Raoul, "You said that as long as we don't kill the shadow, we can change his heart?"

"Yeah." said Morgana, "At least, I think."

"You think!?" asked Ryuji.

"Give me a break!" yelled Morgana, "I've never successfully done it before!"

"Regardless." said Raoul, "We gotta try out here a bit more. I still there's someone that I think will spill the beans."

"Who?" asked the other two conspirators.

"Mishima." said Raoul, "I think he's the weak link we need."

"How do we get him to talk?" asked Ryuji, "He's holded up in the nurse's office."

"We get him as he's leaving." said Morgana, who Raoul pointed to affirm the point.

"Alright, since we need to make our way through the school undetected, Morgana, we need to hide you." said Raoul opening his jacket all the way.

"How?" asked the cat, and then he saw Raoul's open jacket, "No fucking way. I'm not getting in there!"

"You got a better idea?" asked Raoul. Morgana, in what is the equivalent for a cat, let out a deep breath and jumped into Raoul's arms. "Hang onto my back." Raoul felt the cat climb around his torso and dig his claws into Raoul's back. He winced before taking a deep breath, zipped up his jacket halfway up and quickly made his way to his classroom, grabbed his bag, slung it over his back to hide the bulge that was Morgana and made his way to the bathroom and into one of the stalls. Luckily, there was nobody in the bathroom with them except Ryuji so Raoul opened his jacket and changed his clothes while Morgana looked out the window and Ryuji faced the other direction. Once he was done, Morgana climbed into his bookbag, although reluctantly. Raoul slung his bag over his shoulder and the two guys made their way to the front of the school where they proceeded to wait for Mishima, and wait, and wait, for another half hour till Mishima came staggering down the hall. "Here goes nothing." whispered Raoul.

"Hey Mishima, you got a minute?" asked Ryuji as they approached the downtrodden student.

"Sakamoto?" responded the boy, backing up a bit. He then looked over and saw Raoul standing behind Ryuji, "and you?"

"Don't worry, we just want to talk to you." said Raoul as comforting as possible. "So, how're you doing? Kamoshida treating you good?" Mishima flinched, "Well, those bruises aren't natural to the game, you sure it's not physical abuse?" Mishima backed away.

"Certainly not!" he said, trying to sound as convincing as possible, but Raoul and Ryuji could see that he was trying harder to convince himself rather than the two in front of him.

"Why are you talkin' all polite for?" sighed Ryuji, "Anyways, we saw him spike you in the face."

"That's because I'm not good at the sport." responded Mishima.

"Bullshit," said Raoul. "The injuries I saw are not normal. Those look like injuries given to heavyweight boxers after ten rounds."

"They're from practice! Besides, what do you know about sports?" said Mishima defensively, Raoul put up his hands.

"Not much, but I do know what injuries look like, trust me, my uncle is a US Marine Colonel." Both boys stared at him at the revelation, but Ryuji then asked the big question.

"Is he forcin' you to keep quiet?" Mishima looked down.

"That's-"

"What's going on here?" The three turned to see Kamoshida approaching them, "Mishima...isn't it time for practice?"

"I-I'm not feeling well today sir." responded the boy quietly.

"What?" said Kamoshida, putting his hands on his hips, "If you don't take these supplementary lessons, then you're better of quitting." Mishima's eyes widened, "You're never going to improve that crappy form unless you show up to practice." Ryuji then stepped in front of Mishima in an attempt to defend him.

"Didn't you hear?" he said defiantly, "He ain't feeling well!" Kamoshida didn't even register Ryuji's statement as he kept speaking to Mishima.

"Well, Mishima? Are you coming to practice or not?

"I-I'll go…" said Mishima finally. Kamoshida then turned his gaze onto Raoul and Ryuji as he got into Ryuji's face, his frame significantly taller than Ryuji. Ryuji however, didn't flinch, he didn't so much as blink.

"As for you two, any more trouble and you'll be gone from this school for sure." he then turned to Raoul "Didn't the principal tell you to keep in line?" Raoul shot Kamoshida a death glare that seemed to make Kamoshida recoil a bit before regaining his composure, "Hmph, just don't get in the way of my practices. All these unsettling rumors are making the student anxious"

"That's your damn fault." growled Ryuji to which Kamoshida let out a fake sigh, he seemed to enjoy the fact that Ryuji was provoking him as if he wanted the situation to escalate.

"This is getting us nowhere. Shujin Academy is a place where those with aspirations come to learn. Unworthy students like you two don't deserve to be here. Let's go Mishima." he then proceeded to storm off, with Mishima following behind.

"That asshole….he'll pay for this!" growled Ryuji. Raoul placed a hand on his shoulder.

"He'll get what's coming to him." said Morgana, poking his head out of Raoul's bag, before diving back in.

"C' mon, let's go to the roof to cool off, then we'll go to get that ramen."

* * *

After Ryuji blew his lid on the school roof and Raoul called Leblanc to tell Sojiro of his plans, the two decided to go to a little hole in the wall called Akatsuki's Ramen Shop, a chain of restaurants that spread around Tokyo and were under the umbrella of Okumura Foods. Once there, Ryuji pushed for Raoul to tell him about himself, which Raoul did. He didn't tell Ryuji everything but he did tell him how his father and mother were both lawyers in the states, how his uncle was a Marine Colonel and that they lived in the Kansas City metropolitan area, all the way to the incident that left him stranded in Japan for the year. Ryuji (and Morgana) listened intently as Raoul gave his account. By the end, they felt sympathetic to his case.

"The hell man! How much shittier can that guy get!?" said Ryuji.

"It's all in the past man, I don't know who he is." his expression then darkened, "and he better hope I don't find him."

"So….you left the US, and now you're living here right?" asked Morgana.

"That's the meat of it, yeah." responded Raoul.

"Shit, we might be more alike than I originally thought." sighed Ryuji.

"How so?" asked Raoul.

"I guess it's how we're treated like a pain in the ass by the people around us like we don't belong. I did something stupid at school before, too." he then downed the rest of his ramen before continuing, "The place you're living in right now is..Yongen right?" Raoul nodded, "It's rush hour right now on the subway, so I recommend that you kill some time before you head back." He then noticed that compared to him, Raoul has barely eaten, "The hell man? You've barely eaten your food!"

"I'm just pacing myself." said Raoul as he took a big clump of noodles and inhaled it, "More or less." he said after he swallowed.

"Anyways." said Ryuji as he opened a ginger box and put a bit in Raoul's ramen. Raoul opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by his friend, "Just let me do this, it's to show that we have each other's back."

"I thought that was assumed." said Raoul smiling.

"Well, yeah...but, this is the official version ya know?" said Ryuji quickly. Raoul thought about for a second then nodded his head in agreement. "As long as we stick together, and can do something about Kamoshida, I'm sure we'll feel a lot better about goin' to school."

"I agree." said Morgana, Raoul then picked a slab of pork and gave it to the cat who gobbled it up happily, "Aaah! Food in my belly, so good!"

"Keep it down!" hissed Raoul.

"Sorry."

"Still though, why are all the players so protective of Kamoshida? Does the principal and parents know about this?"

"Yes." said Ryuji solemnly. Raoul's eyes widened, this just made their task significantly harder.

"Okay…" said Morgana, "Then the better question is, why hasn't anyone gone to the authorities yet?"

"Because they're afraid of Kamoshida." said Raoul, "Did you see how the players reacted when we asked about their injuries, they looked terrified. But that doesn't explain the parents, why are they keeping quiet?"

"Because Kamoshida made the volleyball team famous." said Ryuji.

"And people like staying famous." continued Morgana.

"That still doesn't give him the right to do whatever the hell he wants!" said Ryuji angrily. "He's beating up kids and all they're allowed to do is endure! And that follower of his doesn't give a single shit!"

"You mean Takamaki?" asked Raoul, Ryuji nodded. "I don't think she's completely loyal to him. When I first met her, and when I first met you, she got a car ride from Kamoshida and in a split second before the window rolled up, I could see something in her eyes like she didn't want to be there."

"Still though…" said Ryuji.

"Then she's a variable." said Morgana, "We should be careful around her."

"I ain't giving up though. I'll find someone else during break tomorrow."

"Remember, we still have the Palace option."

"What I think Ryuji is saying," said Raoul, "is that we need to use up all our options before we do the Palace option since we don't know if stealing his treasure will kill him." Morgana conceded the point. "Anyways, let's go home." The two young men headed out of the shop and towards the subway station, there they parted ways to go home. Morgana hid in Raoul's bag the entire ride so he would not have to pay the pet toll which Raoul couldn't afford. Ryuji was right though, it was cramped in the late afternoon, but he said that rush hour should be over but it was really difficult to tell because there was a lot of people on the train. Raoul hugged his school bag so he could make more space for others but made sure not to hug it too tight so the cat can breathe. After about a half-hour of being crushed by people on the subway, they made it back to Leblanc.

"You're back." said Sojiro as he scrubbed a plate under the faucet, "Enjoy yourself?"

"Yeah. Cemented a friendship." responded Raoul.

"Friends are good, just be careful of who you choose. One mishap and you're out of here."

"I understand, it's practically seared into my brain."

"Don't get smart with me kid." Raoul smiled and headed upstairs. Once up there, Morgana jumped out of the bag and onto the sofa.

"Ahh! That feels awesome!" he said, stretching his body.

"I'd imagine so." said Raoul.

"That bag is so crowded. I felt like I was gonna suffocate!"

"Well, I have to take my journals and writing stuff in that bag so of course, it's going to be crowded. Plus, Tokyo subways?"

"Still though."

"So that's why I heard meowing." said Sojiro. Raoul and Morgana turned to see the older man climbing up the stairs, "You brought a stray home?"

"It had nowhere to go, and I kinda have something for animals."

"Hmm, wait here." Sojiro turned and headed downstairs. About a minute later, he came back up with a small plate and placed it in front of Morgana. "Eat up." Morgana looked at the food and then began eating it happily. "So," continued Sojiro, turning to Raoul, "you thought of a name?"

"Yeah, Morgana."

"Morgana? Damn, I wanted to name it. Well, I'm not against you keeping it but I want one thing to be clear: I'm not going to be taking care of it. I'll provide the food but everything else is on you."

"Alright."

"Plus, I think that taking care of a pet will help. May keep you out of trouble."

"That's my hope."

"Well, make sure you wash the plate, I'll see you tomorrow." Sojiro then turned and walked down the stairs and a few seconds later, Raoul and Morgana could hear the door to Leblanc open and close.

"Well, that went better than expected." said Morgana who pushed the plate over to Raoul.

"I guess. I seriously thought I had to fight to keep you."

"Looks like being on parole has its benefits, however short."

"I guess." said Raoul as he took the plate and went downstairs to wash the plate and close the place. When he returned, he began his daily routine in exercising.

"Well," commented Morgana at seeing Raoul's athleticism, "looks like I won't have to train your body."

"Excuse me?" asked Raoul as he dropped from the beam where he was doing pull-ups.

"I thought I'd have to train you physically in case we decide to go to the palace, but it seems like that isn't the case."

"There are other things you can teach me in case we go."

"I guess." Morgana looked around before his gaze settled on the desk across from Raoul's bed, "There is something I can show you, grab that toolbox and take a seat at the desk." Raoul complied. "Okay then, we'll start with something simple: lockpicks." Morgana then motioned for Raoul to grab a small box of metal. Morgana then spent the next couple of hours instructing Raoul on how to make lockpicks, when Raoul asked why he had to make them instead of just buying it, Morgana said that it was to reduce as much suspicion as possible, which made absolute sense. At the end of their little session, Raoul had made three lockpicks successfully. Raoul then washed and went to bed, content that he was just a little closer to defeating Kamoshida, at least a little bit.

* * *

The next afternoon, Raoul received a text from Ryuji while he sat in social studies, listening to Ushimaru drone on about the Heian period in Japan.

**Ryuji: So, about witnesses.**

**Raoul: Got something?**

**Ryuji: Maybe we could get something out of Takamaki.**

Raoul looked up briefly to see Takamaki gazing out of the window before returning his attention to the conversation.

**Raoul: Since she's with Kamoshida?**

**Ryuji: No, that ain't why.**

**Raoul: Then why?**

**Ryuji: Just hear me out. Do you know how we didn't get a thing out of the volleyball team? I figured it'd be a good idea to talk to someone who knows them.**

**Raoul: How do you figure?**

**Ryuji: She's BFF with this starter on the team, name's Suzui. I tried talking to her during the break, but nothing.**

**Raoul: Then, we should have Takamaki talk to her instead.**

**Ryuji: Then again, I guess it'll be hard getting her to help us. Sorry, lemme see what else I can come up with.**

* * *

After school, Ann saw that Shiho was sitting alone on the bench where she found Sakamoto and Collins the day before. Shiho sat with her head hung low, as if trying to hide something. Ann painfully knew what it was as she sat down next to the girl. A few minutes passed before she looks at her watch.

"Isn't it time you headed to head to volleyball?" she asked carefully.

"Uh-huh.." responded Shiho quietly. Shifting her head a bit to allow Ann to see what was wrong.

"That bruise above your eye… Is that from practice!?" It had swelled pretty bad, turned nearly purple.

"Y-Yeah…"

"Are you sure you're not pushing yourself too hard?

"I-I'm okay...volleyball's the only thing I can do right..." Suddenly, Ann's phone began to ring, she knew who it was and it took every ounce of willpower she had. "Shouldn't you take that?"

"It's probably my part-time job, I think."

"I...should get going."

"Shiho…" Ann placed a hand on her shoulder which caused her to wince a little bit, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Uh-huh…" responded the girl as she stood up and walked away quietly. Ann also stood up and finally picked up her phone which the other person on the line was waiting for her to pick up.

"Y-Yes?" she quietly listened for a moment, "Today won't work...I'm not feeling so good today...Sorry, bye." Ann then hung up quickly and walked away. As she headed down the hall, she could listen to the rumors about her and Kamoshida dating, she clenched her fists tightly as she continued down the hall.

* * *

Raoul has been roaming the halls for the last few minutes, looking for Suzui. He remembered who she was as he saw her a couple of times walking with Takamaki. As he walked by the entrance to the skywalk connecting the upper floors of the school to the athletics building he stopped, there in the doorway was Suzui, looking at her phone. Raoul slowly walked up to her, she didn't seem to notice his presence.

"Ms. Suzui?" he said quietly, she didn't respond. "Ms. Suzui?" he asked, a little louder. Only then did she recognize his presence.

"What?" she then realized that she was in the doorway, "Oh..um...am I in your way? Sorry." Raoul then noticed the giant bruise above her left eye.

"Are you hurt?" Suzui then looked away as she began rolling her sleeves down.

"Um...well…Hm," she said, looking closely at him, "you don't look familiar." Raoul immediately realized that she was trying to change the subject, he decided to go along with her, maybe he can get her to spill later. "Could you be that transfer student? From Class D?"

"Yes, I am."

"Um, well, this may not be any of my business, but don't let all those rumors get to you, okay?"

"Why do you say that?"  
"Well, I've helped someone with a similar situation before. My best friend is often misunderstood too, all because of her looks. Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to drag on like that."

"It's fine."

"Anyways, I have to go to practice now, see you around." She then turned and walked into the skywalk, Raoul silently cursed himself for not one: not being able to drag the conversation long enough, and two: not being able to get anything out of her.

"Hey.." said Morgana quietly poking his head out of Raoul's bag, "We should find Ryuji." Raoul nodded and then headed down, looking for his friend. Eventually, they found him in the same corner that they've met the last few times.

"Dammit. What the hell..."

"That bad?" asked Raoul.

"Everyone's saying the same thing as Mishima! Kamoshida had to have told em somethin'."

"So, finding someone to rat out on Kamoshida is completely out of the question right?"

"I guess."

"Then, I guess the Palace option it is. Though, I feel like we should've started with that."

"I know. But seriously, is there anything else we can do?"

"Well, unless you want to go at him directly, I'd say the Palace is the best option."

"Fine. Let's do that."

"By the way, I've been wondering something, Morgana."

"Yeah?" responded the cat, poking his head out of the bag.

"How're you going back in forth between here and the other world? You don't have access to the Navi as we do."

"Navi?" asked Ryuji, his eyebrow raised.

"Short for Metaverse Navigator."

"Cool."

"To answer your question." said Morgana, jumping out of the bag and onto the table, "You don't need one when you're at my level, though I did get lost getting out of there."

"Hey you hear that?" said a new voice. Raoul and the group turned and saw a couple of teachers walking towards them.

"We've got to stop meeting here." said Morgana as he jumped into Raoul's bag.

"I agree." responded Raoul.

"Where do you suggest we move?"

"Roof?"

"That's perfect."

"Ryuji?"

"Yeah." sighed the boy.

"All right." continued Raoul, "Let's go." A few minutes later, they were on the roof once more, their permanent place, more or less. "Now, how're we going to use the Palace to take Kamoshida down?"

"Simple," replied Morgana as he jumped onto the desk, "we assault his Palace."

"What is a Palace in the first place?"

"Simply, for this idiot to understand." Morgana gestured his head to Ryuji.

"Hey!"

"Enough Ryuji, he's messing with you."

"Anyways," continued the cat, "Palaces are essentially a distortion, a distortion of their desires. For example, Kamoshida sees this school as his castle because he can seemingly get away with anything. Now, he's not aware of this because it's all suppressed and connected in his heart. But, if we eliminate the castle, then it would be natural this would affect Kamoshida."

"So eliminate the castle, and then he's an honest man."

"You catch on quick."

"But, is that really getting back on him?" asked Ryuji.

"Erasing the Palace essentially forces the user to have a change of heart."

"So we are getting back at him, just not physically.

"And even when the Palace is deleted, the crimes they have committed remain. Meaning Kamoshida will be burdened with all the guilt he has caused and will most likely turn himself in by confessing the crimes himself!" By now, Morgana had the equivalent of a big grin on his face, he seemed to be ecstatic.

"Seriously!?" Ryuji was shocked by just how much damage to Kamoshida they could do by messing with his Palace.

"And since the Palace will be deleted, he'll forget what we did there and because of that, there'd be no trace of our involvement."

"Traceless crime." murmured Raoul.

"You're an amazing cat you know that!" said Ryuji gleefully.

"True," responded the cat, taking in all the praise, "except for the cat part!"

"So," continued Ryuji, "how do we get rid of the Palace!?"

"By stealing the treasure within."  
"Stealing?"

"I'll tell you more once you agree to do this. It's my most valuable, secret plan after all. If you want to help me out, I'll gladly teach you. What's your call?"

"Well, you've pretty much ran dry on witnesses, so I guess we have no choice. What do you think?" asked Ryuji as he turned to his partner.

"I'm in." replied Raoul without blinking.

"Seriously?"

"What? It's our best shot at getting to him, plus, traceless crime."

"Though you have to remember," said Morgana cautiously, "that there's a chance that we may end up killing Kamoshida if we do this."

"It's a chance we have to take, lest more people suffer under him." Ryuji weighed all his options before finally caving in.

"Fine."

"Good."

"Hold on though! Would the deaths be our fault?"

"Aren't you determined enough to take those risks? Raoul certainly seems so."

"What do you think man?" Ryuji asked Raoul.

"You're right, I don't want to kill him, but if we have even a one percent chance of pulling it off, then I'd say we do it."

"For real!? You'd go that far!?"

"Sheesh," groaned Morgana, "I came all this way, and this is what I get? It's not like anyone will find out."

"That's not the point!" exclaimed Ryuji. "If we just go around, secretly doin' whatever the hell we want, then we're no better than Kamoshida!"

"But this is the only option! I'm heading back to Raoul's place. Make sure you've made your decision by tomorrow, I won't ask a third time." Morgana then jumped on the AC units and left the two teens one the roof.

"Can't believe we're gettin' worked up over this." sighed Ryuji.

"Look, I understand your reluctance to do this. Mull it over tonight and tell us tomorrow. I still think that this is the best option we have to take Kamoshida down for good."

"Dammit, I'll think about it." Ryuji then sullenly walked down the stairs and out the school, Raoul followed a few minutes later. When he walked out of the gate, his phone vibrated, it was a message from Ryuji.

**Ryuji: Hey, I heard something that caught my attention on my way out.**

**Raoul: What?**

**Ryuji: It's about that Suzui girl. Looks like rumors are going around about her and Kamoshida.**

**Raoul: Really?**

**Ryuji: Yeah, if they're true, then it's no wonder she wouldn't talk.**

**Raoul: Still, there's something that feels off about that. When I spoke to her, there was nothing that would have told me that she was in cahoots with him. Do you know something?**

**Ryuji: Nothing concrete yet, but I've known Suzui and Takamaki since middle school and there's just no way that Kamoshida is their type, y' know. So, I gotta wonder where those rumors came from.**

**Raoul: If anything, they came from Kamoshida himself, being a shameless self-promoter.**

**Ryuji: Well whatever, I guess I'll try asking around a bit more.**

**Raoul: Watch yourself.**

**Ryuji: Yeah.**

Raoul then pocketed his phone and headed for the train station, only to find that it was rush hour. He decided to spend some time in Shibuya. He got off at the Teikyu building and headed towards the square

* * *

"Will you please give it a rest!?" Raoul heard a familiar voice, "I told you, I'm not feeling up to it!" He looked around until his eyes settled on two blond pigtails, it was Takamaki and she seemed to be speaking on her phone. "Wait, what!? That's not what you promised! And you call yourself a teacher!?" Raoul realized, she was talking to Kamoshida, he hid himself a few feet off in an attempt to listen in. "This has nothing to do with Shiho! Ah…" she removed the phone from her ear and curled up in a ball. Raoul slowly approached her and he heard her mumble something about Ms. Suzui's starting position.

"Are you okay?" he asked when he was a few feet from her. Takamaki slowly turned her head and when she realized who it was, she shot to her feet and stumbled back.

"Wait...were you listening?"

"Not on purpose, I swear." said Raoul, raising his hands in an attempt to convey that he meant no harm.

"Haven't you heard of privacy?" There was a long silence between them, Raoul knew what he did was wrong but he needed to, she looked like she needed help. "No, I was out of line, sorry." Takamaki then took a long breath, "So, how much did you hear?"

"You were arguing with someone, something about a friend."

"Shiho…." she then smiled, "It's nothing." tears then started forming, "Nothing at all." she then realized she was crying and wiped the tears away before running down the street. Raoul knew instantly that something was very wrong.

"Wait!" Raoul took off after her down the street. She was fast, dashing down the stairs and into the main terminal. When Raoul found himself in the main terminal of the Teikyu building, he realized that he had lost her. Quickly, he made his way through the terminal and finally caught sight of Takamaki again. She was facing one of the pillars, he approached, "Ms. Takamaki, please wait." she whirled around to face him.

"Stop following me! Just leave me alone." she stated angrily

"Please listen and calm down." responded Raoul calmly.

"Why? Why do you keep worrying about me?" She then started to quietly sob, her head hung low. Raoul knew he had to get her out there.

"Let's go somewhere safe." he said quietly while slinging her bag over his shoulder. He then gently grabbed Takamaki's arm and led the crying girl out of the terminal and into Shibuya; he then scurried her into a fast-food restaurant. He led her to a booth at the far end by a couple of windows and then ordered two drinks, using the rest of his money. By the time he got the drinks back to Takamaki, she had regained her composure, sitting with her arms and legs crossed.

"I don't have anything to talk to you about."

"Well that breakdown you had earlier proved otherwise." responded Raoul as he sat across from her, placing the glass in front.

"It's just an argument…" she mumbled. Raoul could see that she was really stressed out due to her body language, her nerves were tied up like a gordian knot. He removed his glasses as he was prone to do when he got serious and then continued on a calming note.

"With Kamoshida right? And it was about Ms. Suzui I presume?" There was a silence as Takamaki studied the glass in front of her. She took a deep breath.

"You know the rumors about Mr. Kamoshida…haven't you?" Raoul nodded.

"Here and there."

"Everyone says we're getting it on. But...that's...so not true! That was him on the other line. I avoided giving him my number…..for the longest time…" almost subconsciously, she placed her finger the napkin in front of her and began playing with it. "He told me to go to his place after this…" She then crushed the napkin so hard that her knuckles turned white, "You know what that means." Raoul remained silent but it didn't take much to figure out what Kamoshida had planned, "If I turned him down, he said he'd take my friend off as a regular on the team…I've been telling myself this is all for Shiho's sake..." she then pressed herself against the back of the booth, her head hung low, "I can't take it anymore…...I've had enough of this….I hate him!" A tear fell from her face, "But still….Shiho's my best friend. She's all I have left at that sorry excuse for a school!" Raoul could now see it, rivers of tears flowing from her eyes. "Tell me…" she sobbed, "What should I do?" Raoul relaxed his grip on his pants, he didn't even realize he was gripping them. "Sorry…" continued Takamaki, "I shouldn't have asked. It's not your problem." The two of them sat quietly for several minutes before Ann spoke again, "What...am I saying? I've barely talked to you before…"

"It's fine, don't worry about it. Sometimes, it's easy to vent to a stranger."

"Huh? You're so weird. Usually, people just ignore or avoid me. Are you...really as bad a person as the rumors say you are? You just don't seem like it."

"People believe what they want to believe."

"Yeah, I kinda had a feeling that they were all exaggerations. You seemed lonely-almost like you didn't belong anywhere. We're the same in that regard. I guess that's why it's so easy for me to talk to you…...Is there...really no way for me to help Shiho? I only wish he'd change his mind. Like, forget about me, and everything." She then let out a small laugh as she reclined against the booth, "As if that'd ever happen."

"It could happen, you never know." Ann looked surprised at the seriousness which Raoul delivered that line.

"I wasn't expecting such a serious answer." she laughed, "But, I do feel better now….I'm gonna head home." She grabbed her drink and stood up from the booth and grabbed her bag. "Don't tell anyone what I told you OK?" she said, her eyes turning deadly serious.

"Don't worry, I respect people's privacy." Takamaki smiled.

"I'll try to think of a way to convince Kamoshida. Well...thanks." she turned and began to walk away.

"Ms. Takamaki." Takamaki turned around.

"Yes?"

"The only way that evil triumphs is for good people to do nothing."

"What is that? A quote?"

"Yes."

"Does that...make me a good person by standing up to Kamoshida?"

"I believe it does." Takamaki smiled and was about to head out of the restaurant when she turned to look back at Raoul and studied his face as he placed his glasses back on.

"You know, when I get a good look at you, you're pretty handsome." She smiled and then walked out into the Shibuya afternoon. Raoul quietly finished his drink, inwardly embarrassed at the comment, and then walked into the Shibuya afternoon, heading back to Leblanc.

* * *

As Takamaki vented her true feelings to Raoul in the cafe, a job was bothering Yuuki Mishima, more than what he did the transfer student; though there was not much he could do about it, everything Kamoshida said goes. His current assignment was to call on Shiho Suzui, he eventually found her wandering the halls just after practice ended.

"Suzui." the girl stopped, "Are you leaving?"

"What is it?" she asked as she turned around.

"Mr. Kamoshida asked for you. He's in the PE faculty office"

"What did he say?" she asked dejectedly, her eyes glued to the ground.

"I..don't know. Well...I have to go." With that, Mishima turned and hurried down the stairs, leaving Suzui alone in the hall. After a moment of contemplating, she received a message on her phone. Suzui pulled out her phone and looked at the sender.

"Ann.." she sighed, Suzui then put her phone away and began making her way to the PE Faculty Office, each step seemed to be an eternity until she found herself at the door. She took several deep breaths, borderline hyperventilating, in preparation for what might inevitably occur inside the office. Finally, she knocked on the door.

"Come in." said a voice. Despite her hands shaking almost uncontrollably, Suzui managed to open the door, "Ahh, you're here Suzui. Good, we have much to speak about."

* * *

Raoul opened the door to Leblanc to find Sojiro sitting at the counter, holding the day's paper.

"You're late, where have you been?" As much as Raoul wanted to, he didn't want to spill the beans for Takamaki to Sojiro, that was something he needed to discuss with people who knew of the situation.

"I was waiting for rush hour to stop." He said with the straightest face he could muster.

"Don't lie to me, rush hour ended about an hour ago."

"I'm not." responded Raoul as he raised his hands in defense, "I decided to spend that time window shopping, and I guess I lost track of time."

"Hmm, find anything interesting?"

"I was barely able to buy the soda I had, I don't think I could afford any of the things I saw." Sojiro studied him with a suspicious eye before sighing.

"You haven't been hanging out with a bad crowd have you?"

"Don't worry, I have no intention of going to juvie. Though I'm spending more time with my friend."

"They have to be pretty weird if they want to spend time with you. Just be careful about who you pick as your friends if you don't want them ruining your life." he then let out a loud yawn before glancing at the clock near the entrance to the cafe. "Look at the time. Seriously, think about how I feel, having to stay up waiting for you. Well anyways, I'm heading home; in the future, try not to come home so damn late. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Good, dinner's in the fridge and don't forget to clean and lock up." With that, Sojiro walked out into the night. As Raoul ate dinner, his phone vibrated, looked like a message from Ryuji.

**Ryuji: So, whaddya think about what Morgana told us? I dunno about that whole stealing desires stuff though.**

**Raoul: The whole stealing desires thing is weird but I think that the Palace option is still the best.**

**Ryuji: Why?**

**Raoul: We've been banging our heads against the wall that is Kamoshida and there have been no results. If we get into his Palace and make him confess by stealing his treasure, it's the only surefire way of getting him.**

**Ryuji: What about the whole thing of him maybe dying?**

**Raoul: As extreme as that is, it's a risk we have to take to end his reign of terror once and for all.**

**Ryuji: I agree there, though I just don't want to end up a murder if this shit goes sideways.**

**Raoul: Same here. In that case, keep looking for other ways to take him down though. Just in case the Palace proves too dangerous for us.**

**Ryuji: Got it.**

It was then, as he finished his dinner that it struck Raoul, that despite all his thoughts about taking Kamoshida down no matter what. The Palace still seemed too risky an option. Once again, the disgusting feeling of him causing someone's death churned his stomach. Quickly, he pushed it to the back of his mind and locked up the place after cleaning his plate. He then headed back upstairs and went to sleep. Morgana did not come back that night, even though he said he would, but Raoul left out a plate on the table and left his window open just in case.

* * *

The next day, Raoul overheard something interesting about Suzui. That rumors were going on about her and Kamoshida. It nearly made Raoul gag as that situation sounded exactly like the rumors that Takamaki told him about the day before about her. Other than gossip that would make him puke at the implications, there was something else that he overheard from some of the volleyball team's female members: that Suzui had missed a meeting, something that she has never done. Raoul feared the worst, was it possible that when Takamaki refused to go to Kamoshida's he did something to Suzui? He quickly dismissed it as a worst-case scenario because it didn't fit with Kamoshida's MO, the most that he would've done is either eject her from the team or beat her, and considering the injuries he frequently saw her with, it wasn't out of the question that Kamoshida assaulted her. Either way, thinking about that made his blood boil with hate. When he arrived at the gate, he mentally prepared himself to dedicate everything into taking down Kamoshida. However, nothing he did could prepare him for the day's events.

The incident occurred during Mr. Ushimaru's Social Studies class. He was lecturing on the separation of powers and the three branches of government which nearly put Raoul to sleep as he already knew this topic. After the surrender of Japan, General Douglas MacArthur, for lack of a better term, gutted the Pre-World War Japanese governmental system, replacing it a constitutional monarchy with three branches of government that blended the models of the United States and the United Kingdom.

"Now," continued Ushimaru as he began writing on the board, "The Cabinet is the Executive Branch. The National Diet is the Legislative, and the Supreme Court is the Judicial. This division provides checks and balances." he underlined that portion, "This is to ensure that no one power becomes-"

"Hey! Have you decided yet?" asked a voice from below Raoul looked down and saw nothing. Then, a small head popped from a space on the desk used to hold journals and the like. It was Morgana! The sudden surprise of his head nearly made Raoul jump out of the desk in surprise but only managed to stop himself with a nigh-herculean resolve to remain under the radar as much as possible. "No matter how much thinking you do, there's only one option. You guys are better off just listening to me."

"Keep quiet." whispered Raoul as he leaned in so that he didn't attract the suspicion of anyone around him.

"Did I hear a cat just now?" asked Ushimaru and as the class began looking around, Raoul quietly pushed Morgana back into the desk.

"M-Meow!" the cat squeaked in protest. There was silence, but no one turned to look at Raoul, thankfully.

"I guess that rumored cat is still around." grumbled Ushimaru, "Hey! Settle down! We're in the middle of an important lecture!" and with that, he returned order to the classroom and resumed his lecture. Raoul let out a small sigh of relief before his phone vibrated, undoubtedly it was Ryuji.

**Ryuji: It's no use! I can't think of any other way.**

**Raoul: Dude, can't this wait till after class?**

**Ryuji: I just can't deal with this shit right now. I mean, what're we going to do about Kamoshida?**

**Raoul: There's a time and a place for that, and it is not now. Besides, what can we do while we're in class?**

**Ryuji: Still though. Do we just gotta do what the cat says? Urgh, that damn furball!**

"If he only knew that I was reading this too." grumbled Morgana. Then, there was the squeaking of a chair as Raoul quickly put his phone away and turned to the source of the noise. There stood a student, looking out the window.

"Hey, what's that!?" Most students didn't turn to see but there were a few who did and Raoul saw them turn pale.

"Enough!" roared Ushimaru, "This is a classroom!" but the students who were looking out the window didn't seem to register that.

"Oh my god!" gasped one of the girls, "She's going to jump!" Mishima then stood to try to see and his eyes widened.

"Suzui?" Takamaki and Raoul heard what he said and immediately both stood.

"Shiho?" gasped Takamaki. By now, many of the students have gathered at the windows, infuriating Ushimaru.

"Hey! Stay in your seats! Do not step a foot outside this room!" Takamaki however, didn't register that as she dashed out the door and into the hallway, with Raoul hot on her heels. Once outside, she shoved several students out of the way to get a view in the window. Raoul dashed up behind her and what he saw stunned him. Standing there on the edge of the building on the other side of the fence of the roof was Suzui. Raoul and Takamaki watched in horror as she simply tipped off the edge and plummeted down. There were screams as she hit the ground with a sickening thud, but the loudest was Takamaki as she backed away from the window.

"No...why? Shiho!" she pushed Raoul out of the way as she dashed down the stairs. Raoul quickly followed behind her. The two ran down the stairs and almost ran into Ryuji. Takamaki ignored him and continued to run.

"Dude! Did you see-"

"Come on!" yelled Raoul, grabbing Ryuji by the arm and dragging him down. When the two made it down, they found that the entrance to the courtyard was blocked, and forcing their way through was not an option. "Damn it."

"Let's try going through the practice building."

"All right." Raoul then turned to Takamaki who was trying to force her way through the crowd and grabbed her arm, "We have an idea, follow us." He then half-ran/half-dragged Takamaki with him and Ryuji to the entrance connecting the main building with the practice building. After forcing their way through, they looped around the courtyard until they came to practice building's entrance to the courtyard, which was significantly less crowded. Once again, Raoul and the other two forced their way through and into the courtyard. They then had to make their way through another crowd but they finally made it to Suzui who was surrounded by paramedics. The teachers were scrambling to maintain order and it seemed that every student in the vicinity had their smartphones out, either filming or taking pictures of the whole event.

"What the hell's wrong with these people?" growled Ryuji to no one in particular as he looked around. Then, a paramedic approached the group.

"We need someone to go with her! Are there any teachers around?" The students turned to the only teacher near them but he began stammering.

"I-I'm not in charge of her class though…"

"We should leave this to Principal Kobayakawa.." stammered another teacher. This made Raoul's blood boil, none of these teachers wanted to take responsibility in this very serious situation. He was about to volunteer when Takamaki finally snapped.

"I'll go!" she declared loudly.

"Please hurry!" said the paramedic as he turned and ran back to the stretcher that they had placed Suzui in with Takamaki following right behind him. Takamaki knelt next to her and began speaking to her. Raoul was too far away to make out exactly what was being but he still strained to listen. Takamaki leaned in as Suzui whispered something to her but then, her head shot back up, her eyes wide in shock. It was then that Raoul heard a name that he dreaded the possibility of hearing.

"Kamoshida!?" Automatically, Raoul's mind began racing, trying to put together what could have Kamoshida have done to drive her to this point, and both conclusions he came to were horrifying. As he pondered, the paramedics loaded Suzui into the ambulance with Takamaki accompanying them. Within 30 seconds, the van was off, its siren blaring. Raoul was so deep in thought that he didn't register the commands that the teachers were giving to all the students to return to their classes at once. Raoul continued to ponder until Ryuji tugged on his blazer sleeve, bringing him back to reality.

"Hey look, it's Mishima." Raoul followed his friend's finger to see Mishima at the entrance where they came from, his face twisted in a knowing horror. He turned a pale white when he made eye contact with Raoul and ran back into the building. "You saw that right?"

"He knows something, and this time, I'm going to know what that is. Let's go." Raoul and Ryuji followed Mishima, just as the Principal waddled out into the courtyard and began giving orders for the students to disband. It took a while, but the two found Mishima in a corner of the school on the third floor, away from all the students. Wasting no time, Raoul spun Mishima around, grabbed his collar, literally hoisted him off the ground, and pinned him to the wall. "I don't have time for your bullshit protection of Kamoshida." he growled, his grip tightening, "Start talking."

"That hurts!" complained Mishima.

"Why'd you run off like that, huh?" asked Ryuji.

"I didn't run."

"She jumped and tried to kill herself!"

"L-Leave me alone!"

"Tell us and we will." growled Raoul, his grip tightening a bit more.

"Look, we ain't trying to get you busted. We won't even say you talked either!" By now Raoul has regained some of his composure, he dropped and pushed Mishima back into the wall, but he let him go instead of pinning him. Mishima stood back up and took a deep breath.

"Suzui….was called out by Kamoshida!" Raoul's and Ryuji's eyes widened.

"Wait, what!" Raoul's mind once again began racing to put together scenarios, and both endings made him want to puke.

"I was called on several times as well, to the teacher's room. And it wasn't just myself and Suzui, he'd nominate someone when he was in a bad mood and hit them."

"So, the physical punishment thing was for real." said Ryuji.

"But yesterday, he called Suzui out of the blue. She didn't make any mistakes or anything. Mr. Kamoshida seemed irritated that day, so it must've been...worse than usual."

"Oh shit."

"Dear God." sighed Raoul

"That son of a bitch!" Raoul turned to see that Ryuji has taken off, it didn't take a genius to figure out where he was going.

"We got to stop him before he does something incredibly stupid."

"I bet… Sakamoto's going to find Mr. Kamoshida…" said Mishima quietly.

"Okay, that's really bad, where's he now?"

"Usually? Second floor in the Practice Building, PE Faculty Office." Raoul turned and jetted off after his friend, Mishima followed close by. Despite running at nearly full speed, Raoul couldn't only catch glimpses of Ryuji until he saw him stop and enter a room, and when Raoul and Mishima got to it, they found that it was the PE Office. Quickly, Raoul nearly ripped the door open he was in such a hurry. But, he found Ryuji panting as Kamoshida turned to face the three boys.

"You bastard! What the hell did you do to that girl!?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Kamoshida innocently.

"Don't play dumb with me!" growled Ryuji as he kicked a chair over. This caused Kamoshida to slam his hands on his desk in frustration.

"That is enough!" he yelled. Turning to the three boys.

"What you did…..wasn't coaching!" said Mishima, he couldn't bring himself to look at Kamoshida. It was then that Kamoshida's eyes narrowed and were filled with venom.

"What did you just say?"

"You...you ordered me to call Suzui here...I can only imagine what you did to her!" At this point, Kamoshida rolled his eyes and stood up, crossing his arms defensively.

"You're going on and on about things that you don't have any proof of. Basically, you're making these claims because you can't be a regular on the team, right?"

"That's not what this is about!"

"Even if it were exactly as you say, hypothetically speaking, what can you do?" He then leaned in to get his face inches from Ryuji in an attempt to intimidate him, "We just received a call from the hospital. Suzui's in a coma and the chance of recovery is slim… Now, how can someone make a statement while they're like that?" All three boy's eyes widened in horror, "There's no chance of her getting better, I hear…" sighed Kamoshida, feigning sadness, "The poor girl."

"You son of a bitch." murmured Raoul, his knuckles were turning white with rage. It took every ounce of will power within him to not strike Kamoshida as hard as he could.

"No, that can't be!" Mishima managed to stutter out. At this point, Ryuji was trembling with rage.

"You…..you goddamn!"

"Oh come now," jeered Kamoshida, "this again? Does this mean that we have to have another case of 'self-defense'?"

"You shut your mouth you son of a bitch!" as Ryuji yelled this, he drew his arm back. Raoul had to act now, if he didn't stop his friend, then they would be in real trouble. So, without wasting any time, he reached out and grabbed Ryuji's arm, holding his friend back. "Wha-Why're you stoppin' me!?"

"Don't let him get to you." responded Raoul coldly, "He wants you to hit him."

"But still!"

"Oh?" Kamoshida was genuinely surprised with this new development, "You're stopping him? What a surprise." He then resumed his crossed arms pose, though with a more haughty demeanor, "There's no need to hold back. Why not attack me?" No response, "Oh, but you can't." he then let out a haughty laugh, "But of course you can't."

"Nice try," said Raoul, crossing his arms, "but trying to goad us into punching you won't work twice." Kamoshida let out a small growl when he realized his goading won't work.

"Whatever. Everyone here right now… will be expelled. I'm reporting you all at the next board meeting." Raoul's heart almost stopped when he heard this.

"You can't decide that!" yelled Mishima, a small amount of confidence and defiance has entered the boy.

"Who seriously cares what you scum have to say?" Kamoshida growled back. "You threatened me, Mishima, so you're also guilty" Mishima stepped back, a bit surprised. "To think you didn't know why I kept someone as talentless as you on the team. You act like a victim but you're the one that leaked his criminal record didn't you?" Kamoshida sneered, pointing at Raoul. Raoul turned and looked at Mishima in shock. "It's all over the internet, how terrible."

"Mishima?" murmured Ryuji in shock. Mishima turned pale and his knees buckled under him.

"He told me to do it, I had no choice!" he wailed. Ordinarily, Raoul would have been furious about this, but after seeing Mishima's genuine regret and anguish over this, his rage died down. Kamoshida turned back to his desk chuckling loudly at his apparent victory over the three boys.

"Now, are we finished here? You're all expelled! You're done for: your futures are mine to take, now get out of here!"

"I can't believe this asshole's gettin' away with this?" growled Ryuji.

"No he won't." said Raoul calmly, "He'll eat his words." Ryuji looked at him confused and then, something inside him clicked.

"Oh right! We have that!" Kamoshida looked back at the two.

"Have the two of you gone insane?" When neither responded, he turned back to his papers, "I never know what garbage like you think, but go ahead and try. All you can do is wait for your disposal though." Saying nothing, Raoul and Ryuji hoisted a mumbling Mishima up and walked out of the office. They dropped Mishima on a bench and Raoul went back to his classroom, completely silent. He didn't say anything throughout the rest of the day either, Morgana tried to talk to him several times but was met with cold silence. The only inkling of communication he gave was when he received a text from Ryuji, asking them to meet at the vending corner. When the bell rang for the end of the school day, Raoul grabbed Morgana and the two of them made their way down to the vending corner to see Ryuji waiting for them.

"We can't waste any more time." he said.

"Agreed." responded Morgana, when the two boys looked at him confused he continued, "I was there, I heard everything."

"Anyways, we gotta hurry up, go to that world and beat the shit out of that asshole!"

"We're not beating him up. We're just stealing his twisted desires." He jumped out of the bag and onto the table before continuing, "Can I assume that you've made up your mind about the other thing? About him having a mental breakdown."

"Yes." said Raoul monotonously. "And if he does end up dying, I won't care in the slightest."

"Agreed." nodded Ryuji, "Someone almost died because of him, I could give a rat's ass about what happens to him!"

"Then it's settled." Morgana did the equivalent of grinning, "Then we go in now to maximize how much time we have to work with."

"I forgot to ask one thing." said Raoul, "Is getting rid of a Palace difficult? And, have you ever tried it before?"

"When did I ever say that I did try?"

"You mean, you were just pretendin' to know!" Ryuji exclaimed, saying the words that were about to come out of Raoul's mouth.

"Is it true? That you're getting expelled?" asked a new voice. Raoul and Ryuji whipped around to see Takamaki standing there. Her mere presence surprised them, how did she get back from the hospital so soon? They were only in Kamoshida's office for about five minutes. "Everyone's talking about it."

"Should've known the bastard would blab about it." Raoul growled with venom in his voice.

"So, you came all this way just to tell us that?" snapped Ryuji. Takamaki looked down for a moment and then her head shot back up with a determined expression etched in.

"If you're going to be dealing with Kamoshida, let me in on it too." This caught the other three off guard. Her hands balled up into fists, "I just can't sit by and do nothing after what happened to Shiho!" Raoul and Ryuji looked at each other, while the extra help would be nice, they couldn't just take Takamaki into the Metaverse without a Persona. She would also, undoubtedly, split their focus and place her in greater danger than she already would be.

"This has...nothing to do with you." responded Ryuji, "Don't butt your head into this." Raoul knew that while it sounded harsh, Ryuji was just trying to keep her safe.

"But it does! Shiho's my-" she never got to finish.

"I said, don't get in our way!" Takamaki took a step back in shock, her eyes darted to Raoul for support but when he refused to meet her glance, she ran. Once she was gone, the guys let out a sigh.

"That was harsh." said Morgana.

"But necessary." responded Raoul, "We don't want to put her in danger, especially if we're going to a place like that."

"Well, I hope she doesn't torment herself over this. When it comes down to it, women don't hesitate."

"We just gotta hurry up and deal with Kamoshida." said Ryuji as he began to walk out of the corner. Morgana jumped into Raoul's bag and the three of them made their way through the school.

* * *

By the time they had made it to the alleyway, most of the students that were not involved in clubs or other activities had gone home, leaving a select few behind. One of them, Raoul noticed, was the beauty that he had seen a few days before.

"The moment we cross over, we'll treat each other like phantom thieves, so I hope you're ready."

"Phantom thieves?" asked Ryuji.

"Those who covertly sneak in and stylishly steal treasure! That is what we become!"

"Phantom thieves," nodded Raoul, "I like that."

"That does sound kinda cool!" grinned Ryuji. "So we just gotta say the school, Kamoshida's name and...castle right?" Raoul nodded, "Then we end up in bizarro world?" Ryuji took out his phone and stared at the app. "How does all this work? Did someone make it?"

"Does it matter?" asked Raoul shrugging, Ryuji simply shrugged back.

"Guess not. It's kinda creepy, but eh, it seems useful enough. We'll show that fucker Kamoshida that he's no king!"

"Agreed." grinned Raoul.

"Let's go!" exclaimed Morgana. Unbeknownst to all three, someone was watching them from around the corner. Takamaki was confused as to what they were talking about. But, there was something she knew was certain.

"They're really are going to do something." She peeked out a little farther, being very careful so as to not be spotted, "What're they doing with their phones?" She leaned further in, unknowingly stepping into range. "A name…...school?" All of a sudden, the world fizzled like static overtaking a television for a second. "What the!?" she exclaimed but quickly ducked behind the corner just in case they heard her, covering her mouth as she did. As she did, she saw the world become dyed in a deep red and her environment begin to shift. Takamaki closed her eyes out of fright. After a minute she slowly opened them again and saw that the school had been replaced with a giant castle. "What the hell is this!" she screamed.


	9. Chapter 7: Castle Infiltration Part 4

Not a half minute before Takamaki screamed, the guys had transformed and were standing before the drawbridge that would lead into Kamoshida's castle.

"All right! Time to burst on through!" grinned Ryuji, cracking his knuckles.

"What the hell is this!" screamed a feminine voice. The guys whipped around to see Takamaki crouched about fifteen feet from them. They hadn't noticed her as their only concern was the castle. Plus, how would she get in?

"Takamaki!?" exclaimed Ryuji as the girl approached them.

"That voice? Sakamoto!?" she then turned to Raoul, "And...are you...Collins!?"

"Wh-Wh-Wh-Why are you here!?" Ryuji managed to stutter out.

"More importantly, how did you get here?" asked Raoul, in a voice that was decidedly calmer than his friend's.

"How should I know!?" she exclaimed. Takamaki then looked around, taking in her new surroundings, "What's going on? Where are we?" She then turned and caught the sign that was in front of the castle, which read 'Shujin Academy'. Her eyes widened, "Is this... the school!?" During the inspection of her surroundings, Morgana sat there slack-jawed at this occurrence and Takamaki's attractiveness before shaking himself free of the impulses, regaining his composure.

"I see. Perhaps she was dragged in because of the app." The guys turned to him.

"That makes sense," said Raoul crossing, "if multiple people can enter here with the same app, makes sense that any bystanders would also get dragged in." Morgana nodded in approval. "Then, we have to be even more careful about using this thing."

"Yeah." nodded Morgana.

"For real?" asked Ryuji. Raoul shrugged and nodded at the same time.

"Wait," They turned back to Takamaki who had come back from looking the castle up and down and putting the pieces together, "so THIS is related to Kamoshida!?"

"Anyways," sighed Ryuji, "you gotta leave!"

"No!" spat Takamaki, crossing her arms defensively.

"The Shadows are going to find us if you make a scene." warned Morgana. It was only then that Takamaki took notice of Morgana and nearly jumped out of her skin.

"No way! It talked!? Oh my god….it's a monster cat!" Raoul did his best to suppress a chuckle.

"Monster?" whimpered the cat.

"Anyways," Takamaki turned her attention back on her schoolmates, "you better explain all this to me! I won't leave until you do!" Ryuji sighed loudly.

"Looks like we gotta force her. But, how're we supposed to do that?"

"Allow me." Raoul walked up and grabbed Takamaki's shoulder firmly.

"No, I'm going with you!" Takamaki tried to remove Raoul's hand but with unbelievable speed, Raoul grabbed her hand, spun her around and pinned said hand to Takamaki's back and placing his other hand against her opposing shoulder so she could not attack with her other arm. Raoul then pushed the pinned arm but bit so the pain discourages her from moving too much. "Ow, ow, ow!" she winced.

"I'm sorry Ms. Takamaki, but we can't risk your safety here, it's too dangerous. We'll explain when this is over." Raoul then led a protesting Takamaki to the entrance and gently pushed her through before making his way back to the others.

"Dude." said Ryuji, his mouth agape, "You gotta teach me that."

"It's a simple lock, and if this works out," responded Raoul, gesturing at the castle, "I can teach you a few things."

"Great! But I guess we gotta be careful on how we use that app from now on."

"You should've checked the tools you were using." chastised Morgana. "Why do I-the one who was just sitting here watching-know more about it than you?!"

"Sh-Shuddup!"

"Enough" said Raoul, "Look, Takamaki has found out about us just as we were starting, if we're going to anything, we need to do it now."

"What's that girl's name anyway? Takamaki?" asked Morgana, turning to Ryuji.

"Yeah." said Ryuji as he turned to the castle, "Ann Takamaki."

"Lady Ann.." he murmured before following Ryuji into the castle compound. The three took cover behind a wall. "The Shadows have noticed us, be on your guard." He then turned to Raoul, "We're counting on you Joker."

"Joker? What is that? A nickname?" asked Ryuji. Morgana turned back to him with an annoyed expression.

"Don't make it sound so uncool, it's a code name! What kind of stupid phantom thief would use their real name! I'm not signing up for that! And there's no telling what effect yelling our real names in the Palace would have in the real world. It's just a precaution."

"So, why Joker?" asked Raoul, crossing his arms, he was confused being named after one of the most popular comic book villains of all time.

"Because you're going to be our trump card when it comes to fighting strength." responded Morgana.

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't know, it's just a gut feeling I have."

"In that case, sure, it's a good code name."

"That's the spirit." Morgana then turned to Ryuji. "Now then, what about you?"

"Hmm, I think that I'll go with Skull."

"Cause of the mask?" asked Joker.

"Yeah." responded Ryuji with a smile.

"Crude" sighed Morgana, "just like Ryuji, but it fits, he can be our muscle."

"Now all that's left," said Joker, "is Morgana." He thought about it for a minute, then spoke up, "How about Mona?"

"Mona?" asked the cat.

"That works!" said Skull with a big smile on his face.

"I…" the cat started protesting but then acquiesced, "Fine."

"Great," said Joker, turning to the Palace, "then let's go."

"Umm, wait a minute." said Skull. The other two turned to look at him.

"What's up?" asked Joker.

"There's somethin' I want to give you, I was so mad during the thing earlier today that I completely forgot 'bout it." He then reached behind his pants and drew something that made Raoul's heart nearly stop. Before him was a Norinco Type 54 9mm handgun, a Chinese variant on the Russian Tokarev TT-33 Sidearm (the progenitor to the iconic Makarov Pistol).

"Ryu-Skull…." Joker said in a cool and calm voice, "why do you have that with you?"

"I originally thought that we could use it to scare Kamoshida."

"Is it a real one?" Joker knew that it was a dumb question as Japan had banned civilians from having any kind of weapon during the Hideyoshi shogunate, and it was unlikely that Ryuji knew how to get to the black market where real firearms were probably circulating but he had to make sure.

"No, it's an airsoft gun. We can still get those. But I completely forgot about it when Suzui jumped."

"It's good that you did. Because if you had pulled it out, then we would've been in deep trouble."

"Anyways, I wanted you to have it since you know guns, maybe you can point it at some of those Shadows and scare them." Joker took the sidearm and inspected it. He found that it wasn't made of plastic but metal. Everything made it look like an actual firearm but years of handling actual arms made the differences stand out to him.

"It might not work since it's fake." sighed Joker.

"But they don't know that." the two turned to Mona.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you know that it's fake but the Shadows don't know that. So, if they think it's real and we're in the cognitive world…."

"Then it would be real." concluded Joker. "I see, though we'd have to use it sparingly." he continued as he placed the gun in a jacket pocket after checking to see if the safety was on.

"Why's that?" asked Skull.

"You ever heard a gun go off without ear protection or even a silencer?" Skull shook his head no at Joker's question. "It's one of the loudest things you'll ever hear. After we're done here, let's go to where you bought this and maybe we can get ourselves some silencers."

"You don't think we can't steal Kamoshida's desires today?" asked Skull which prompted Joker to point at the large castle.

"I don't think we can even _find _Kamoshida's desires today." he said. "But dammit, we'll try to get as much as possible." The trio then headed to the window that they had entered the last few times, which surprisingly still hasn't been found by the castle guards. With better control of their newfound super strength, the two carefully climbed up and through the window. Dropping down into the small library, they quietly poked their heads out and saw that while the hallway they were in was empty, the main hall had about eight guards milling around on patrol. "Let's go through the other door." The three quietly opened the door on the far end of the hall and entered a long hallway. Surprisingly, there were not any guards there. "Great." He then motioned for them to keep going, the guys keeping their bodies hunched slightly. All had their melee weapons out and at the ready. Their steps made no sound on the carpet as they continued around a corner and what faced them was another hallway with several large chairs and a guard with their back to them. "Hide!" hissed Joker as they ducked behind some chairs. Something interesting happened to them, as they pressed against the chairs, the shadows began to coalesce around them. The clanking of armor was growing closer as Joker slowly pulled the Norinco out from his jacket and flipped off the safety. The guard walked by them, stopped at the end of the hallway, turned towards them and stopped again. Joker began to raise the gun silently, the guard then started his patrol again, apparently not noticing the three thieves. Joker let out a breath that he has been holding and then quickly ducked out of the shadows. He quickly moved behind the 7'0 guard and pushed the gun barrel straight into the kidney area of the armor where a chink was found. "Don't move or you'll be filled with lead." The guard froze and didn't move. "Skull, Mona, take his weapons." Skull and Mona complied and stripped the guard of their sword and shield.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing much, but I really want to pull this trigger."

"Wait! It's not a good idea to be shooting so recklessly kid, ho!" Joker raised a quizzical eyebrow at the verbal tick this guard had.

"Well then, join us then."

"But be-hee-fore all that, let's enjoy a conversation, ho!" Joker cast a side glance at Mona who shrugged. Joker then decided to humor the guard.

"All right, let's talk." Joker didn't move the gun, however. If it tried anything, Raoul would pull the trigger and try to muffle the sound as much as possible.

"Hee-ho, hee-ho! You're a nice guy, ho!" This guard was nothing like the ones that surrounded them the last two times they came here unless they just got bad luck. "What do you want with me, ho! Hee-ohh, now I know…."

"What?"

"You've come from some other company to scout me-hee out. There's no mistaking it, ho!" Joker was now really confused and lost some patience.

"Not really, I've just come to finish you off." out of the corner of his eye, Joker saw Mona motioning to not say that.

"You're just a casual aren't you? A real fan wouldn't treat me like that, ho! You know what, I've had hee-nough of this hee-horrible treatment. It's an indignity, ho! How can you do such terrible things to a cute hee-ho like me!?" Mona was now frantically flailing his paws trying to tell him not to piss off the shadow so Joker reversed his position. But it was still weird hearing all of this come from a suit of armor.

"Now that you mention it..."

"You didn't realize till now? That means my cuteness still has a ways to go, ho…"

"Perhaps, but there's always room for improvement and you've done well so far."

"Exactly! I guess great minds do think alike, ho… Hee!? Wait, I remember now!" The armor quickly shifted into a Jack-o-lantern like monster similar to the ones in the cell that Joker occupied his first trip into the castle. It happened so fast that Joker couldn't pull the trigger before the creature was facing him, "I'm not a shadow from here, ho! I live in the sea of the hee-human heart. I'm Jack-o'-Lantern, ho! I'm you and you're me!" Jack then morphed into a blue version of Joker's mask and then hit Joker in the face, absorbed into his mask.

"What the hell was that?" he asked no one in particular.

"I think you just recruited a demon." replied Mona.

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know, but I guess it is."

"Man, you really don't know much, do you?" said Skull with a devilish grin.

"Shut up! This is the first time I've ever seen this." Mona shot back. "I guess my hunch that Joker would be a good code name was spot on though we can't always use that method because it takes too much time, it might be better to just avoid or kill them."

"Regardless, it may help along the way. If there are different tiers of demons then we could probably win over some powerful ones." said Joker as he placed the Norinco back in his jacket after putting the safety on again. "Let's keep moving." They moved from corridor to corridor without much problem including a strange corridor with an iron gate and flanked by several statues of naked women with no heads. Though they were having a problem keeping track of where they were going when they walked into a corridor with a strange door at the end that seemed to phase and blur.

"A safe room." said Mona, "Come on." The cat creature walked up to the door, opened it, and went inside. The two teens looked at each other for a moment before walking in after Mona. The room seemed to shift like a blurred photo but some things were absolutely clear: a table, several chairs, and a few sofas. "We should be safe here."

"What makes you say that?" asked Joker.

"This door is hidden from the rest of the palace. So that means that the Shadows won't be able to get to us."

"That's good." said Joker as he stretched and moved his mask up onto the top of his head, "We can take a bit of a breather." He turned and saw Skull crashed out on the couch, his eyes closed in some sleep. "A half-hour," he whispered to Mona, "then wake him up." The cat nodded and curled up on another sofa. Joker then moved himself to a corner of the room and then set to practice drawing the Norinco as fast as he could into firing position, putting it back in his jacket, and repeating the movement. He practiced this routine for about three minutes straight, the first to draw his weapon and fire was the one who had the advantage in combat.

* * *

At the very moment that Joker was practicing drawing his weapon, Ann Takamaki was walking through the front gate of the castle, her jaw slacked with what she was experiencing. 'If I didn't see Colins and Sakamoto do what they did, I would've thought I was losing my mind.' she then looked down at her phone. On the screen was an app that Raoul and Ryuji would've recognized immediately: The Metaverse Navigator.

"This app is so weird." she murmured out loud. "The moment I tried to go back, I got a ring on my phone and saw this app there." She had then said what she had thought the guys might've said based on what she saw in the other world, and it worked! She had then found herself in front of the strange castle she saw a few minutes before. Walking into the main hall, Ann rubbed her shoulders which were still very sore from when Collins had pinned her arm, "Damn bastard, he didn't have to hurt me that much." All of a sudden, a group of large, armored soldiers approached her and barred her path.

"Princess!? What are you doing out here?"

"Excuse me?" asked Ann. When did she become a Princess?

"What are you doing out here? Please come with us!" the guard then reached out and grabbed Ann's arm.

"Hey! Let go of me!" she yelled as she tried to pry her arm from the iron grip of the strange man but to no avail.

"Please Princess, don't struggle." said the second guard calmly as he grabbed her other arm in a similar iron grip and they hauled the struggling girl further into the castle as she struggled and yelled for them to let her go.

* * *

Joker sat down on the couch and closed his eyes for a few minutes when a distinct feminine scream rang out from outside the safe room that woke all three from their nap.

"The hell was that?" asked Skull as he swung his legs off the sofa he was reclined on.

"Sounds like a girl screaming." said Joker moving to the door.

"I'll go, I'm the smallest and the fastest." said Mona, running straight out of the room before Joker could say anything.

"I guess we'll just wait." said Skull crossing his arms. They didn't have to wait for long as Mona almost kicked the door in as he ran in with panic on his face.

"That girl Takamaki is here! She somehow got back in!"

"What!" yelled Skull, "That's impossible!"

"Where is she?" asked Joker.

"Some of the guards got her, they confused her for her cognitive self and are hauling her away."

"Where is she?"

"This way!" Mona charged out of the room with Joker and Skull following close behind. They turned left and right before they came to a gate barred with metal spikes about six feet tall. Mona slipped in between two of the bars, "Pull them apart." Joker grabbed one bar and Skull grabbed another.

"3..2..1..Pull!" said Joker and the two young men began pulling on the bars with all their might. Initially, nothing happened but then the bars began to give way. Within seconds, a gap big enough for the two to slip through appeared, which both men did with no problems. Inside the hall was an upsetting sight. Naked torsos of women lined the was with no clothing on them, further amplifying just how far gone Kamoshida truly was. That didn't matter right now as the two then burst through a door into a study stacked up to the ceiling with books. The yelling was coming through from the other side of one of the walls. Skull looked up and down the shelf furiously looking for anything. Joker stood at the desk furiously going through the drawers when all of a sudden, he vision darkened somewhat and the globe next to him started glowing golden. He then hesitantly reached out and spun the globe, causing the wall in front of Skull to cave in and then move to the right. Instinctively, Joker knew that this was what Igor had gifted him the last time he was in the Velvet Room, a veritable third eye.

"What the fuck!" screamed Skull. Joker vaulted over the desk and ran into the exposed room and nearly lost his lunch. Pinned to the wall in front of him were several pictures of a girl in various sexual positions and in a state of undress over a series of candles. Joker, trying his best not to lose his lunch, removed one quickly to get a better look at the face. It didn't matter as her face was blurred somewhat but the silhouette was unmistakable, it was Suzui. He dropped the photo as another yell from Takamaki resounded, this time much closer and to the left of the guys behind a door. Joker moved fast, drawing the Norinco as he kicked the door nearly off its hinges.

If he thought what was in that first room was bad, then he was not ready for what was behind door #2. Strewn about on the floor were a series of naked girl-like mannequins that moved and moaned. The clothes that were strewn on the floor were that of the volleyball team. "Jesus Christ…." growled Joker under his breath, "this must be what he sees the girls as."

"Takamaki!" yelled Skull, Joker looked up and saw her. Ann Takamaki was bound on an X shaped restraint that spread both her arms and legs to reduce the chances of her struggling out of her bonds. Joker raised the Norinco.

"Step away from her." he said in a cold and detached voice, trying to mimic voices he believed special forces would take when dealing with a hostage situation. The soldiers didn't react but Takamaki looked up and her eyes widened at the gun in Joker's hand.

"You!"

"Oh, so you're back again." said a familiar voice that made Joker's blood boil. Walking into the room from a side door, was Kamoshida. "And this is the intruder?" Joker shifted his aim to Kamoshida and kept the weapon trained on him as he walked across the room.

"Kamoshida!?" Takamaki was surprised. But it wasn't over as another figure walked out from behind, it was Shadow Ann, "Who's that!?" Joker opened his mouth to explain but she continued, not listening for an answer, "But more importantly, what's going on here? Why does the school look like this?"

"I can't believe that you could mistake my Ann for her." Kamoshida then walked up to Ann and stared at her, "Though she is quite the look-a-like."

"Step away from her." repeated Joker. Kamoshida finally had noticed the thieves with Joker pointing the gun at them, the guards immediately started to put themselves between the gun and Kamoshida. The Shadow ignored Joker's threat and approached Takamaki.

"Are you afraid?" Takamaki averted her face from the grotesque clothing that Kamoshida wore.

"What's with that outfit, have you lost your mind?" Kamoshida chuckled.

"I do as I please here. After all, this is my castle, my world of desires." he then spread his arms out, "Anything I want is here. One word from me becomes reality." Takamaki then began struggling again.

"Where the hell is this? Is this some kind of red-light district?" Takamaki felt a burn on her face as something hard struck her. Kamoshida had slapped her hard.

"What a lively slave." he sneered. Joker and his accomplices moved but the guards countered them. Takamaki looked back at him with surprise and rage in her eyes.

"Enough of this bullshit Kamoshida! This isn't funny!" Kamoshida raised an eyebrow before turning to the Shadow Ann.

"That girl's decided to tell me off. What do you think about that?" The Shadow made a show of thought before responding.

"Talking back is like...totally unforgivable." said the Shadow in such a sultry tone that Joker and Skull believed that Takamaki would never speak in. Kamoshida nodded and then spun back around and his hand struck Takamaki again.

"In that case, she should be executed." growled Kamoshida. Kamoshida snapped his fingers and a guard captain that was facing Joker, Skull, and Mona turned on his heels and approached the bound Takamaki. Joker placed his finger on the trigger ready to pull the trigger at any time. "Now then," sneered Kamoshida as he stroked his chin, "how should I play with you? Shall I tear you to pieces?"

"You've got to be kidding me…" groaned Takamaki as she struggled to right herself.

"This is fucked up." whispered Skull as the trio inched their way slowly, trying not to provoke something from the group in front of them that could endanger Takamaki.

"The most we can do right now is be prepared, if I shoot and nothing happens, then we might risk one of them sticking a blade in Takamaki's gut." Kamoshida only then finally acknowledged the trio standing in front of his guards and a scowl came over his face.

"Oh, they're back. How many times are you going to come back?"

"As many times as it takes fuckface." growled Joker. A show of apparent realization then came over Kamoshida as he turned back towards Takamaki.

"I wager that you're just like those thieves over there, you came here because you were pissed at me for what I did to that girl. What was her name? Ah doesn't matter, but it's your fault that she jumped you know."

"What!?" screamed Takamaki

"Yes, you were so reluctant in throwing yourself at me that I had to substitute her in your place." Joker's grip on the gun tightened and his finger touched trigger as white-hot rage burned in Takamaki's eyes.

"You bastard!" she screamed. The golden guard captain approached closer to her, apparently upset by her comment. Her rage turned to fear as she looked at the unfeeling suit of armor.

"No!" yelled Skull as he attempted to rush forwards but the two guards in front of Takamaki crossed their swords in front of her neck.

"Move and she dies." growled Kamoshida.

"You touch a single hair on her head and your head become full of lead." growled Joker in response.

"Do you really want to test that theory boy? Which do you think would be faster? Your bullet or the blade of my captain?" Joker remained quiet but the gun was still trained on Kamoshida's grinning face.

"Dammit." Growled Skull as he back down until he was next to Joker who barely moved.

"Just sit back and enjoy the dismemberment show." His face turned then into the stereotypical face of a perverted creep. "Maybe I'll start with her clothes." Shadow Ann began giggling.

"You're such a perv." she said in a sultry voice.

"What're we going to do?" whispered Skull, barely able to restrain his rage. Joker's finger was twitching, he wanted to pull the trigger right that moment but he knew that it would spell Takamaki's death and no matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn't think of an alternative. The guard captain and began tracing his blade in front of Takamaki, trying to determine the perfect way to remove Takamaki's clothes without explicitly harming her. By now Takamaki had tears rolling down her cheeks in defeat.

"Is this my punishment...for what happened to Shiho?" she sobbed. Kamoshida let out a loud laugh.

"Now that's more like it! This is more like how you should have behaved from the beginning!"

"Shiho...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."

"What are you doing Takamaki? Don't give in!"

"Huh?" she perked up slightly.

"Didn't you tell me that you wanted to stop him? Are you going to cower in front of him while he boasts and gloats about abusing your friend? Doesn't that make you mad? Don't you want vengeance?" Determination then began creeping its way back into Takamaki's face.

"You're right." she growled, "Letting this piece of shit toy with me." she then began pulling on the restraints with even more determination, "What the hell was I thinking!?" Kamoshida sensed that she was starting to resist again.

"As I said before, a slave should just shut up and-" he didn't finish his sentence as two things happened.

"Shut up!" screamed Takamaki just before a gun blast startled everyone. A smoking hole appeared to the right of Kamoshida in the wall. Skull and Mona covered their ears in shock as the ringing in their ears caused them pain. Kamoshida, Takamaki, Skull, and Mona all turned to look at the smoking barrel of the Norinco held by Joker. Takamaki, after regaining her bearings smiled softly, "I've had enough of this." she said turning back to Kamoshida, "You've seriously pissed me off you son of a bitch! I'm going to run you down and make you pay!"

* * *

"My… it's taken far too long." said a voice deep inside Ann's head. Before she could react, a sharp pain ran through her head, forcing her to stand straight in her restraints.

"Urgh." she grunted as she began to squirm and struggle, the restraints kept her from falling over and clutching her head in pain.

"Tell me…" said the voice, Ann could hear that it was a distinctly feminine voice, very smooth and calm, "who's going to avenge her if you don't? Forgiving him was never an option..." In front of her, Joker, Skull, Mona, Kamoshida, and the guards all watched her (and each other) intently, waiting to see what happened, "...such is the scream of the other you that dwells within..." Ann began squirming more, her cries of agony becoming more pronounced, tears streamed down her face, and by now, she shut her eyes now in pain but the voice continued, "I am thou...thou art I…" Ann went limp, "We can finally forge a contract."

"I hear you…" said Ann softly, "...Carmen." Her head shot up in a flash of blue flames as a red panther mask appeared on her face, her eyes were a golden color, "You're right." she said with determination, "No more holding back!" She then began to pull against her restraints.

"There you go…Nothing can be solved by restraining yourself." continued the voice as Kamoshida stepped back in fear as in a small flash of blue flames, Ann ripped her restraints off, "Understand? Then I'll gladly lend you my strength." Ann reached for her mask, and in one fluid motion, ripped it off. A pillar of blue flame consumed her. When the flames receded, something was different: Behind Ann stood a giant woman with pink skin in a gypsy-inspired dress. She wore a corset that opened at the chest area, revealing ample cleavage which was covered by a skin-tight shawl in the Spanish style. She wore a black choker and a cat mask that resembled the one Ann wore, but black and splattered with pink. She also had black pigtails whose hairstyle mirrored Ann's, her eyes were feline-like with blue shadow and she was smoking a cigar. From the waist down, it was a dancer's dress. The belt area was made of red roses and the skirt was red with outlines of black and white. She had red high heels and her stockings were plaid black and red with the red parts being formed into hearts. Finally, in one hand she carried a green stem-like rope that wrapped around her waist and attached to both ends were two men in black tuxedos and red bow ties with both having heart-shaped heads and eyes. One man was below the woman, who had her right heel on his back, and the other floated in the air next to her. It was her Persona.

Ann had gone through her own transformation: She now stood before everyone in a red latex catsuit that was skin tight with a cleavage cutout and zippers all over, she wore a set of pink gloves that stretched till about halfway up her forearms, dark red thigh-high boots, and finally, a cat tail was clipped onto the back of her suit, at the bottom of her back. Ann looked right and with a blur of motion and a kick of superb athleticism, she kicked a guard's massive sword into the air, and with the instinct of a natural acrobat, jumped up and grabbed with both hands. With a roar, she brought it down upon her cognitive self, cutting her in two. Shadow Ann disappeared in a scream of agony and black mist. Shadow Kamoshida backed away in fear, sweat pouring down his face. The golden shadow captain stepped in front of him to protect his master.

"You know what?" said Ann with hate in her voice as she rose, "I'm not some cheap girl you can toy with...you scumbag."

"You bitch!" growled Shadow Kamoshida.

"You stole everything from Shiho…." Ann dropped the sword, "You destroyed her…" she began advancing as the guys pulled up next to her, Joker with his gun and knife out and Skull and Mona with their club and cutlass respectively, "Now it's your turn!" Ann raised a gloved hand and pointed at Kamoshida, "I will rob you of everything!"

"How dare you!" growled the Shadow Captain, "Enough of your insolence." Then him and two of his subordinates began morphing, their red and black essence fusing together and with an explosion of red and black gunk, a new demon stood before them. A devil looking creature, with goat horns, red eyes, jagged teeth, long ears, a long nose, and white beard sitting on a toilet stood in front of the four.

"No. I've had enough of you." responded Ann with determination in her voice, "No one's going to stop me now. Let's go, Carmen!" Blue flames danced in her hand as a six-foot-long leather bullwhip appeared in her hands. She snapped it once in defiance, she seemed to be almost completely unaware of how she did or even that she was holding it. She was laser-focused on the demon in front of them.

**AN:**

**So sorry that I haven't been able to upload as much as I probably could have, given the length of the summer for a University student but I was in the midst of an internship throughout most of this summer that took up most of my time due to the fact that I drove an hour and a half to get there, spent 8:30 to 5 and then drove back and today (the day of uploading) was the last day and I only have about ten days before school starts again. I hope that now that I have a less demanding schedule, I'll be able to upload more often, both here and my other story. The C Investigation.**


	10. Chapter 8: Castle Infiltration Part 5

Joker, Skull, and Mona were surprised, to say the least at how naturally whip handling came to Takamaki as she swung and struck the demon across the face with the grace of a professional. The crack was audible, a testament to her increased strength. The three other thieves had summoned their Personas and blasted the demon with respective elemental attacks. The demon then struck back with an attack that seemed to have no element before somehow ramming Captain Kidd with its horns which caused Skull to clutch his chest in pain. It was at that moment that they realized that when a Persona is injured, the user is also injured. Joker raised the Norinco and delivered a double-tap to the demon, which did a good amount of damage although the second shot was only marginally close to where the first shot was. Joker still wasn't the best at double taps even though he practiced for months with some of his uncle's SEAL friends before the fateful trip to Japan some months before.

Skull, still somewhat taken aback with the loudness of the two shots, jumped high into the air and brought the blunt pipe down the demon's head. Mona, at the same time, jumped and slashed at demon's throat, cutting a gash that spewed black blood.

"Agi!" cried Takamaki loudly. Turning, Joker saw a ball of fire no bigger than a basketball appeared in Carmen's hand. The Gypsy Persona then hurled the ball at the demon which exploded on its chest, burning its chest. Joker then acted, charging and jumping at the demon and proceeded to stab it in the chest and drag it across its chest, carving a scar. At the left shoulder, Joker jumped and was about to fire a shot into the ear before a clawed hand grabbed him and flung him at the ground. Joker slammed onto the ground but managed to roll backward and come up with the Norinco pointed at the demon and with his ears still ringing pulled the trigger. The shot caused Takamaki to grip her right ear in pain but shot managed to hit the demon in the eye, causing the demon to fall on his side clutching the eye.

"Let's do an All-Out Attack!" yelled Mona. The other three looked at him.

"How do we do that!?" yelled Joker, the ringing had quieted but it was still there.

"Just attack with all your might at the same time, it'll come naturally!" Joker and Skull, knowing that the worst that could happen was that it doesn't work, silently nodded and charged. Takamaki, now getting to the groove of combat despite not knowing what exactly was going on, followed close behind them. All of a sudden, they became dark blurs as they cut, whip, and smashed the demon from multiple angles before all landing and striking poses, which seemed to come naturally to them as the demon exploded blood from several gashes in his body and disintegrated.

The four then turned around to see a door closing at the far end of the chamber. It seemed that Kamoshida had slinked away from the battle.

"Wait!" Takamaki took after him but immediately fell flat on her face, even though she just face planted, she tried to get up, "Get back here you son of a bitch." Joker, Skull, and Mona could only watch as they didn't have much strength left in them either. It seems the stamina required to operate for a long time and to fight several battles was still beyond them. After catching his breath, Joker walked over to Takamaki's crawling body and lifted her up, slinging her right arm of his shoulder. Seconds later, Skull did the same and they each placed their free hand on her abdomen to help her balance herself.

"C'mon, there's nothing we can do now or in your state." said Joker. Looking up at Skull he continued, "Let's retreat for now." Skull nodded as Takamaki sighed in resignation, "We'll get him eventually, but we have to go, for now, you're in no condition to fight or even move that well."

"I know…" she whispered.

"Mona, take point." the cat looked at him skeptically, Joker sighed as he remembered that they weren't versed in military terms like he was, "I'll explain later, just go ahead of us and lead us out of here." the cat then nodded in confirmation and proceeded to lead the group out. They took their time, bypassing the safe room due to how urgent it was that they get out. The place was most likely on high alert by now. Several times they had to press themselves against the shadows and meld into them but after what seemed like an eternity, they managed to make their way to their entrance. Carefully, they hauled Takamaki up and down on both sides, with Joker catching her jump down before they managed to exit the Palace and appear in the same alleyway they entered. Takamaki then broke out of their grasps and leaned against the wall while Raoul sent Ryuji to get some water for her.

"What the hell was that?"

"That," said Raoul, "was a Palace, a manifestation of a twisted desire."

"I was able to put together that much, but what the hell did I do? What the hell was I wearing!?"

"What you did was summon a Persona. The physical manifestation as your inner self. As for why you were wearing a cat jumpsuit, I can't say." Raoul then remembered the Norinco and began patting his blazer and sighed with relief to find that the gun was still there. Looking around, he pulled it out and quickly placed it into his school bag. Takamaki watched it with a pale face.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"It's fake." Raoul reassured her, "But it seems that in that world, cognition works differently and when a majority thinks its a real gun, it becomes one."

"But you know how to use it so well, why's that?"

"Raised in a military family, this stuff was drilled into me since I was a kid." Takamaki nodded in understanding as Ryuji finally came in with a bottle of water. Takamaki then drank it all in one sitting before handing it to Raoul who promptly threw it in a recycling bin.

"All right, explain everything to me." they did, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Takamaki sat there and listened silently before answering.

"If I didn't see what I just saw or did what I just did, I'd think you two were crazy."

"It's all right, it takes a while for people to adjust to what just happened, it did for us." Takamaki sighed heavily while rubbing her temples.

"I'm going home." she said, "I need time to digest this and my head hurts."

"Do you need help getting home?" asked Raoul, holding up her bag, which she took.

"I'll manage." she responded before turning around and walking down the road slowly. Within a few minutes, she was gone. Raoul let out a yawn while Ryuji stretched.

"Christ that was something." said Raoul.

"You said it." responded Ryuji, "I'm beat, want to head home?"

"Yeah." said Raoul, "By the way, did you realize what I meant when I said that gunshots were loud."

"Yeah. I think we do need those silencers." grumbled Ryuji as he rubbed his ears in memory of the sharp pain those shots caused. "We can go to the shop where I got them tomorrow."

"Do we have money?" sighed Raoul as he pulled out his wallet and looked inside. What he saw next made his heart skip a beat. Inside, were several bills with an amount totaling to about 15,000 yen. "Ryuji, can you check your wallet right now?" the other boy raised an eyebrow before doing what he was asked, the second he saw what was in his wallet, his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head.

"Is...Is this for real?" he asked, pulling out a 5,000 yen bill and held up to Raoul. Raoul did the same and after a quick google search for tips on spotting counterfeit currency, they realized that they were holding real money.

"Holy hell." murmured Raoul as he put his wallet back in his pocket.

"I never had this much money." said Ryuji, his eyes twinkling, "Maybe I could go buy that new game counsel!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Aw! Why not!"

"Think about it, two problem children suddenly flush with cash? People will talk and we'll be suspected of illegal shit, best to hold onto it or use it to fund our operation."

"Raoul is right." said Morgana, as he hopped onto Raoul's shoulder, "We need to be penny pinchers if we are to avoid suspicion." Ryuji sighed in defeat as he pocketed his wallet.

"Okay, but maybe we should also get some part-time jobs? You know, just to make it look legitimate."

"Probably, but let's wait a bit." Raoul yawned again, "I'm heading home, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Same." the two then parted ways as the traffic around them began to thin, indicating that rush hour was over. Raoul made it back to Leblanc where Sojiro was starting to close up shop, the last patron of the day had just left. "Evening." Sojiro looked up in surprise.

"Hey, how was school?"

"Good but.." Raoul yawned again, "exhausting." Looking back at the shelf of coffee behind Sojiro, Raoul asked a question that he wanted to for a while, "Mind if I make myself some coffee?" Sojiro turned to look at him and silence reigned for a few moments before Sojiro sighed.

"Fine, as long as you don't use all the product." Raoul put his bag on one of the chairs, put on an apron and made his way around the counter. Picking a coffee from Nicaragua, he set about making the coffee, all under the watchful eye and direction of Sojiro. After brewing and tasting, Sojiro said, "It gets a passing grade. With a bit more practice, you'll be fine." Raoul smiled as he felt the caffeine surge through his body. Working on the coffee for a while, he did his homework before passing out on the bed, losing consciousness the instant he made contact.

**Hey Guys, so sorry about the inconsistent upload schedule but I just started at a new University and my course load is kinda heavy on the reading so it may take me a while to write, edit, and upload. However, there's an elephant in the room I want to address and that is Persona 5: The Royal. What to do about it? Should I wait for it to come out and continue with the new materials or finish this version with the OG P5 and then release a re-edited version with the Royal content? After about two weeks of mulling it over, I couldn't reach a decision so I decided to place it to you, the people who have I am blessed to have read and hopefully enjoyed my work. Below is a small link to a google forms page, I will leave it for two weeks, please vote.**

**Link: **** forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfyb6D393cPA0hwH8tgS3xAe3rxSa9eOXqnSAHqj0MKjNy-PQ/viewform?usp=sf_link**


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